


Hawkeye's Revenge

by NightWind



Series: How Hawkeye came to Roost [1]
Category: Daredevil (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers Family, BAMF Avengers, BAMF Clint Barton, BAMF Phil Coulson, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Deaf Clint Barton, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-09-23 23:26:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 58,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9686858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightWind/pseuds/NightWind
Summary: The Avengers had finally come together as a true team after they had gotten Bucky away from Hydra but now they would have to face their greatest challenge, the assassin Hawkeye.Why was Hawkeye attacking SHIELD and what did he want?





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note** : So this is my first story posted to the archive and I hope you like it. This is a finished work and I will be posting a chapter every few days. Also, for anyone who is interested I am looking for a good beta who could help me improve my writing. The perks of the positions including reading my works before anyone else and lots of chocolate chip cookies (alright there are no real cookies). Just post in the comments section or message me if interested. For those souls who have been brave enough to try my humble offering comments feed my muse but please be kind. :)

 

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The sun was almost a living thing as it danced over the windows of the SHIELD headquarters building in New York and for a brief moment he allowed himself to pause and enjoy the feel of it dancing over his hair and down his skin. He had missed this feeling, being able to just go out in the sun and enjoy simply being. The backfire of a car shaterred his short lived peace and he had to fight the urge to reach for the gun in his belt.

'Progress,' he thought with wary humor as he opened his eyes once more and forced his tense muscles to relax. The first thing he saw as his eyes fully opened was Steve's understanding face several steps in front of him as he waited patiently for him to catch up with him. Bucky's lips twitched slightly as he fought to send a smile his way but he could tell the expression came out more a grimace than a true smile. Despite the lack of a true smile Steve seemed to understand and beemed back at him clearly happy that he had been feeling well enough to come out with him today. Bucky really couldn't blame him, it had only been a few months ago that the very idea of going outside (too many open lines of sight, too many potential enemies/targets, too much everything) had sent him into a panic attack that had had him rocking in a corner for hours with Steve trying to calm him. Now while he didn't think he was well enough to go out on his own having Steve there made it ok. He had a feeling he could do almost anything as long as Steve was there.

He caught up to the grinning dork and bumped him with his flesh shoulder, he still hated to touch Steve with the metal arm even though Steve never made a distinction between the two, knocking him a bit off balance. Steve's grin widened and with an evil glint in his eyes he caught up with him in order to bump him with his own shoulder. Bucky huffed a laugh as he moved deftly out of Steve's way causing him to run into the side of the doors into the building.

The entrance doors shuttered around them and for a moment they both looked at each other in a bit of a panic as they wondered if they were going to shatter around them. Thankfully the doors seemed to have been made of bullet proof glass and while the frames had been shaken no real damage had been done.

Several people were looking at them in surprise causing Steve to blush and Bucky to tense as he prepared for a possible threat but Steve seemed to understand his tension because he stepped in front of him wearing a sheepish smile.

"Sorry, a bit klutzy this morning," Steve said and several of the agents around them responded with fond grins of their own or eyerolls followed by headshakes as they moved back to what they had been doing.

Bucky huffed another near silent laugh which earned him a scowl from Steve. Bucky knew that as soon as they were back at the Tower, where their rough housing wouldn't break anything important, Steve was going to try to get him back. Fortunately for him Steve had always sucked at practical jokes as he could never keep a straight face.

They were crossing the lobby when an agent who had been waiting by the elevators moved to meet them. Bucky tensed once more but Steve deftly placed himself to intercept the man, reading Bucky's mood better than he sometimes read it himself.

"Captain, sir, the director wanted to see you as soon as you came in," the man greeted them as soon as he was in speaking distance. The man kept shooting fearful glances at him as though expecting an attack at any moment and it seemed to Bucky that every small eye movement was causing a spring of tension within him to tighten until it was sure to burst.

"Thank you. If you will point us in the right direction then we will go at once," Steve told the man pleasantly but Bucky noticed that he shifted even more to block Bucky from the man's view. Bucky felt a bit of his tension leave him as the man's darting eyes were blocked but the man's next words ratched his tension up to new levels.

"Captain, the Director only asked for you. I can take the Win....," the man broke off quickly at Steve's outraged and angry stare. "I mean I can take Sergenant Barnes to another room to wait for you sir."

"Sergenant Barnes," Steve said with an extra empathsis on his name "Will be accompaning me, if the Director has a problem with that then the Director will have to wait till I have accompanied Sergenant Barnes back to Avengers Tower and returned."

The man looked vaguely shocked that the Captain America was refusing an order and Bucky vaguely wondered where everyone had gotten the idea that Steve was the perfect soldier. Bucky had been the one to always follow orders, except where Steve was involved, but Steve had never obeyed an order that he didn't like or felt was morally wrong. Really he was a bit worried about how gullible people in the 21st century were.

"I, I .....I don't know if .... I mean Captain I can't just lead an enemy op....," the man was suddenly cut off by a furious Steve Rogers looming over him looking ready to break him in half.

"Don't you ever call him an enemy anything, Agent Dovers. Do I make myself clear," Steve hissed the anger an almost physical presence in his voice. Agent Dovers shrunk away from Steve as though expecting to be killed at any moment but managed to nod his head quickly.

"Good, now where do we go for this meeting," Steve asked visibly controlling his anger as he took a careful step away from the trembling agent.

"I....It ....," the man, Dovers, stuttered still shaking but before he could gather himself Bucky swung around pointing his gun between the eyes of a man who had approached from his left. Several agents reached for their sidearms but the man merely raised a calm eyebrow and held up a hand stopping the agents from pulling their guns with that simple gesture. Instead of calming him the ease with which the man commanded the trained men and women of SHIELD set his teeth on edge. Bucky wondered how easy it would be for this man to set these people against him and Steve. The day which had seemed so bright and full of hope only minutes before now seemed dark and full of threat as he took in the number of Agents between the door and calculated how long it would take him to get Steve out of the building and to safety.

'Too long,' his racing mind screamed back at him 'Too long, the enemies could get off a shot that would hit Steve. They could Hurt STEVE before he could get them to safety. He had to kill them. Take them out before they could get off the shots that could Hurt STEVE.'

Suddenly a shadow stepped between him and the enemy commander and a warm hand rested over his own hands which cradled his gun.

"Buck," Steve said softly running a gentle thumb over the straining tendons of his flesh hand as Bucky realized that he was shaking. 'Panic attack,' some distant part of his brain noted numbly.

Steve's hand shifted over his hands where they held the gun and for one terrified moment Bucky thought Steve was going to take his gun, his only way to defend them, to get them to safety but he simply shifted to put a comforting hand against Bucky's back as he urged him to the bank of elevators.

Bucky was dimly aware of the man from before, the man who was too calm, too much in control saying something to Dovers but his brain refused to translate what his ears were telling him as Steve moved them through the crowd and into an empty elevator. Bucky's knees trembled and without a word he sank into a corner of the elevator with Steve blocking his view of the lobby with his own body.

'No get up. MOVE,' his mind shouted at him as he put together that Steve had turned his back to the enemy. He was defenseless. Bucky had to protect him. They would get him, they would Hurt him, they would.....

"Bucky," Steve said quietly as he rested a gentle hand against Bucky's chest and brought Bucky's own hand, the Metal Hand that had killed so many, up to rest over his vulnerable heart. Bucky wanted to shout at him for how foolish he was putting a weapon over his heart but he found that his lungs refused to draw in enough breath for him to even make a sound even as they worked over time to gasp in small useless puffs of air that did nothing for the darkness creeping in at the corners of his eyes.

"Bucky, feel my heart beat, feel how my chest expanse with each breath. Try to match your breathing to mine, try to let your heart beat in time with mine," Steve's voice floated around him asking impossible things of him that Bucky never the less tried to do if only to erase the worry creasing Steve's brow.

"That is good Buck. You are safe. I will protect you no matter what," Steve whispered as he brought his forehead to rest against Bucky's. Bucky managed a small breathless laugh at Steve's cluelessness. He just couldn't understand that what Bucky feared most was not harm to himself but that they would capture Steve, put Steve in the chair, or use Bucky again as a weapon against the one person who meant the most to him. Steve didn't understand that Bucky was a weapon, a broken weapon, and one might be fond of a weapon for its usefulness but one should never show a weapon the type of unconditional love that Steve showed to him every day. Bucky needed to tell Steve that. That he should turn that love to a person instead of showering it on a monster, a weapon but he was too selfish, he couldn't bear the thought of Steve turning from him and so he clung to him while trying so hard to be a person for him instead of a weapon (broken weapon) whose only real use was to kill Steve's enemies.

'Broken, I am broken,' Bucky thought bitterly as he forced his breathing to match Steve's while wondering when Steve would realize how much of a broken weapon he really was.

The darkness receded from his vision finally and as it let go its hold he tensed once more as he realized that the man from before had followed them into the elevator.

Steve seeing where his eyes were resting smiled reassuringly at him and gestured to the man standing at Steve's back, Steve's undefended back! The thought had no sooner registered before Bucky was tensing to move Steve out of sight of the potentional threat.

"Buck, it is ok. I promise. I trust Agent Coulson. He isn't going to hurt you," Steve said as he moved smoothly to block Bucky's move toward the still calmly waiting agent.

"Bucky you are having a panic attack. LeAnn, your therapist, said these would happen and that to try to ground yourself by reminding yourself where you are and what is going on," Steve told him in a calm voice that contradicted the obvious worry and fear for Bucky in his eyes. Guilt shot through him at that look in Steve's eyes and with an effort he took a deep breath holding it till his lungs burned before letting it out with a whosh. He repeated the exercise several times before he felt calm enough to untangle his fingers from where they had clenched around his gun.

"Buck, do you know where you are," Steve asked softly, gently.

"SHIELD Headquaters, New York division," he answered mechanical then cursed himself silently as his voice came out flat and devoid of emotion, the voice of the Winter Soldier. Pain flashed through Steve's eyes but he smiled a small pained smile of encouragement as he told him "Yeah, Buck, that is right. What is going on?"

"We were coming into SHIELD so that you could finish some paperwork. We were approached by Agent Dovers. Dovers reported the Director of SHIELD required you to report for duty. You refu..," Bucky clenched his hand once more over his gun darting a quick glance to Agent Coulson. He didn't want to say aloud that Steve had refused an order. Steve was a soldier and shouldn't be refusing orders. They might hurt Steve for refusing like they had hurt him when he refused an order. Panic started to set in again but the gentle stroking of Steve's fingers along his flesh hand pulled him back to himself reminding him that he was no longer with Hydra and SHIELD did not discipline its people in the same way. At least he didn't think the discipline was the same but if it was Bucky would burn the place to the ground before he let them touch Steve.

"It is ok Bucky. You can say it, it is fine," Steve assured him with a gentle smile as he continued to stroke his flesh hand.

Bucky swallowed before sending a challenging glare at Agent Coulson who just regarded him calmly "You refused the order unless the asse...I was allowed to accompany you. The confrontation drew the attention of several people in the lobby, Agent Coulson approached. I drew my gun on Agent Coulson. Agent Coulson stopped the others from drawing their weapons. You got us to the elevator."

Steve had flinched when he had almost called himself the asset but he had smiled with such relief when Bucky had corrected himself without prompting that Bucky felt the smile like a warm light in his chest. He might not be able to do everything right but as long as he could still make Steve happy he felt he still had a purpose.

Bucky tried to get to his feet but found that his legs were like noodles underneath him and he crashed back against the wall of the elevator which gave slightly under the impact. He winced wondering if Steve would get in trouble for the damage and knowing he had to get up before they arrived at the correct floor.

"It is ok, Buck. Agent Coulson stopped the elevator with his emergency code so we have all the time we need to sort this out," Steve told him and Bucky loved him a bit more for saying we, for making it seem like this was both their faults when Bucky knew that this whole mess was just because Bucky was broken. Steve would never be crouched in an elevator unable to get up because of something as stupid as a panic attack but Bucky was ever so grateful that Stevie wasn't angry at him for his weakness.

Once more he made to get up and this time managed to force his unsteady legs to support his weight.  
"Bucky, you can sit for a bit longer. You don't need to push yourself," Steve said from in front of him where he was still kneeling on the floor looking ready to catch him should he fall forward.

"No," Bucky said softly then more loudly as he realized even Steve wouldn't have been able to hear his soft exhale. "No, people will be curious as to why the elevator was stopped and you have to get to your meeting."

"Sergenant Barnes, I have informed Director Fury that we will be late to the meeting and I can keep the elevator stopped as long as you need," Agent Coulson told him with the same calm expression he had worn when Bucky had pointed a gun between his eyes. This man confused him. Most people when confronted with the Winter Soldier were afraid but this man had not even flinched at the gun pointed at him and even though he still had out his gun the man had not even glanced at it. Bucky wondered if the man was simply so arrogant that he assumed that the Winter Soldier couldn't or wouldn't hurt him. He had had a few handlers like that but generally those handlers had not lasted long as they found out quickly that the Winter Soldier was always to be feared; even when strapped into the chair he was to be feared.

This man with the calm demeanor did not seem arrogant or over sure of himself and Bucky didn't think he was a fool not to see the threat right in front of him but that left him uncertain what the man was about. Steve stood up beside him laying a gentle hand on his shoulder which caused Bucky to realize he had been staring silently at Agent Coulson for the last few minutes as he tried to understand the man. Bucky dropped his eyes, well aware that he had automatically fallen into his role as the Winter Soldier as he stared at the man. Steve became so sad when Bucky's eyes went dead when he was acting as the soldier but he was never afraid. Bucky knew that most people were afraid of him all the time but especially when his eyes were the Winter Soldier's as that was when he dropped the pretense of being anything other than a weapon. Chancing a quick glance up at Agent Coulson he was surprised to still see no fear in the other man's eyes and doubly surprised when the man nodded understandingly at him.

Bucky was still unsure of the man but he allowed himself to relax enough to bump his hip gently against Steve's. Steve threw him a warm smile at the touch before bumping his hip back.

Bucky's mouth quirked up slightly as he ducked his head. His eyes caught on the sight of silver metal still held in his flesh hand and with a start he holstered his gun having not realized that he still held it. He glanced up to apologize for everything but Agent Coulson and Steve merely waved his attempt at an apology aside.

"PTSD is quite common amoung active field agents. I am quite used to its effects from working with my charges and from first hand experience," Agent Coulson told him in an offhanded manner as he typed something rapidly into his phone. Bucky blinked wondering if he had heard the man correctly. Surely this calm man had never fallen apart like Bucky had, he wasn't broken like Bucky.

"If you feel up to it we should get going. If you don't then I can drop you and the Captain in my office and brief you on the meeting afterwards," Coulson told them his voice saying clearly that either option was equally fine in his eyes. Steve looked to him and Bucky realized that Steve would take them straight back to the Tower if he thought this was too much for Bucky and that he wouldn't even think how that might get him into trouble.

"I...," Bucky stopped himself quickly. He had been about to say that he was fine but he had learned in the first few months of being in the Tower that it was best for him to be honest with Steve about his state. He didn't want Steve relying on him only to find that he had crumpled under the pressure.

"Who will be at the meeting," he asked softly. Steve cocked his head questioningly at him but Agent Coulson seemed unperturbed and simply told him "Director Fury, the Avengers Team minus Thor, myself, you and Captain Rogers. A strike will be brought in to debrief but will not stay long and none of them will have their weapons with them. You can leave the room if you like before they come in."

Bucky tilted his head as he considered the offer then slowly shook his head. "Maybe but I will wait and see."

He met both mens' eyes before nodding and drawing himself up into parade rest. Coulson nodded back before typing in a code that had the elevator shooting back up.

Steve was still worried but Bucky could tell that he was doing his best to not hover.

"Bucky, Agent Coulson is the Phil that we have told you about. You would have met him before but he has been busy with a large project and just got back to the states a few days ago. Phil is kind of like the baby sitter for the Avengers," Steve told him. He shot a mischevious smile at Coulson at the last part and Bucky was surprised when Coulson snorted before rolling his eyes at Steve.

"Most baby sitters do not have to file for hazard pay, Captain Rogers, because their charges are certifiable. I still am picking glass out of one of my suit jackets from the time when Stark and Banner burst out half the windows in the Tower with one of their experiments," Coulson snarked but Bucky could tell the man was joking. At least he thought the man was joking, it was sometimes hard for him to tell what people other than Steve were feeling.

"Come on, Phil. It was only the top 15 or so floors of windows that they blew out," Steve countered with a grin.

"I noticed that you didn't say anything about the hazard pay," Phil muttered as the elevator doors opened on a empty, windowless corridor.

"I have to admit we can get a bit rambunctious sometimes," Steve allowed and Coulson's calm demeanor actually broke enough to give Steve an incredulous look.

"Alright, very rambunctious," Steve corrected himself. Coulson forebore to answer him as he stopped at a door mid-way down the hall. He glanced at Bucky for his permission before he opened the door and proceeded them into the room. Bucky quickly took in the room around him noting the hard wood conference table in the middle of the room surrounded by conference chairs on wheels which rolled easily along the linolium floor as Phil took his seat next to Director Fury at the head of the table. Bucky had never met the SHIELD director directly but was familiar with the man's face since he had been the target he had been sent to kill. Thankfully Steve had stopped him from completing his mission but not before he had put a bullet through the Director chest collapsing his left lung.

Fury glanced up as he entered the room but seemed unconcerned that the man who had nearly killed him was in the same room as him and that said man was armed. Bucky was still unsure about a lot of things but he was fairly sure that Fury's behavior was not normal. He thought at least that most people would have wanted to hurt him in turn for having hurt them. The Hydra agents and scientists had always made sure to hurt him badly any time he had attacked them, which they had as soon as they had gotten him strapped into the chair.

Reluctantly, Buck turned his attention away from Fury and Coulson and took in Stark and Banner over in the corner talking about something with their heads bent over a tablet. Natasha was leaning against the left wall in a position that gave her an excellent vantage of any entrances and exits from the room. Bucky wished he could join her but he knew Steve would know he was taking up a defensive position and get that sad look in his eyes again so instead he settled for sitting in a chair near the right corner of the table that would allow him to see all the exits and stil allow him to spring into action at a moments notice.

Steve clapped him warmly on the shoulder as he passed him to greet Natasha. Natasha smiled slightly at both of them and Bucky felt pleased that Natasha liked them enough to allow them to see that smile.

A move from his left had him tensing until his subconcious noted that the movement had just been Director Fury standing up to move to the head of the table.

"Stark, Dr. Banner if you will take your seats we can go over the specifics of your next mission," Fury stated. He directed a hard stare at both Stark and Banner which reminded Bucky of someone, he picked at the memory since it didn't seem to be a bad one then snorted a slight laugh as he realized the Director's stern stare reminded him of one of his grade school teachers.

Steve looked at him curiously. With a flick of his eyes he indicated the Director then said softly "Mrs. Ristera."

Steve looked at the Director startled then burst out a startled laugh as he saw the stern look the man was still giving the two scientists. That stern look was turned on the both of them along with a raised eyebrow and Bucky gripped Steve's thigh hard under the table with his flesh hand and felt Steve do the same to him as they both fought to keep a straight face.

Fury gave them a quelling look and for a moment Bucky truly thought he was going to say in Mrs. Ristera's stern voice 'Gentleman, is their a problem?' but instead the man simply sighed before obviously dismissing them.

"A little over 34 hours ago we sent a strike team to Venice, Italy to bring in an assassin known as Hawkeye. This was not the first time that SHIELD had tried to bring in this particular man. We have been pursuing this man for over fifteen years now and everytime we have gotten close to bringing him in he has escaped," Fury told them as he brought up a blurry picture of a handsome, smiling young man with short blond hair and very muscled arms and back. Bucky blinked slowly as he studied the man's musculature trying to determine how the man had obtained that particular muscle build. It bothered him that he could not tell how this particular build had been formed. Muscles told the story of how a person moved, how they trained, and could allow a skilled observer to guess how the person might move in a fight but this man's muscles were hard to read like a water logged page where the ink had run.

"Wait a sec," Stark interrupted with a bark of disbelieving laughter. "Didn't you say you had been pursuing this guy for fifteen years. He can't be older than thirty. You can't tell me he came on SHIELD's radar as an assassin at the age of fifteen."

"If you had allowed me to speak I would have explained that Hawkeye, real name Clinton Francis Barton, first appeared on SHIELD's radar when he was sixteen for a series of thefts that seemed to be near impossible. SHIELD had sent out an agent to bring the kid in but the agent failed to finish the mission and the kid vanished," Fury and Coulson shared a grim look at the mention of the failed mission. Everyone looked curious at the byplay and Fury catching their looks sighed before explaining "Coulson was the agent I had originally assigned to bring Barton in but at the last minute I had to put him onto another op that had gone badly wrong. My predicesor sent a junior agent in his place thinking wrongly that it would be a simple assignment. Barton led the agent on a wild goose chase before finally leading him into an FBI sting that got the agent arrested along with the criminals the FBI had been going after to begin with. It took us over a week to straighten out the mess and the head of the FBI still gives me grief over the screw up."

Stark laughed out loud at the admission and everyone else seemed a mixture of amused and impressed.

"That is awesome," Stark exclaimed but at a glare from Fury mimed buttoning his lips.

"I am glad you think so. Because of that screw up SHIELD lost the chance to bring one of the best marksman in the world in to work for SHIELD. We didn't even hear anything about Barton for 16 months after that, not until he assassinated a drug kingpin named Gustevo Tullini along with all of his lieutenants," Fury brought up an image of 6 men lying dead around a patio each of them with arrows piercing their right eyes. Steve glanced at him in concern as the image appeared on the screen probably worried that the image would cause a flashback but honestly Bucky was too focused on studying the arrows and their placement to really note that the arrows were sticking out of human corpses. Suddenly the man's musculature made more sense. While he had never seen anyone who fought with a bow he imagined that they must require a lot of arm, shoulder, and back strength.

"Are those arrows? What does this guy think he is in the Lord of the Rings? Has he never heard of a gun," Stark asked loudly to no one imparticular.

"Hawkeye is a skilled marksmen with almost every projectile known to man but he prefers to use a bow," Fury told them as he clicked through the slides showing the dead drug cartel. Bucky saw Natasha's mouth downturn when Fury stopped on a particular slide and Bucky understood why as he studied the projection. The skill that was on display with this one picture was astonishing. Bucky was unsure if he could have replicated the scene with his rifle and a scope. Each arrow was a direct hit to the right eye but more than that it looked like each arrow had gone directly into the cornea of the eye and each shot had been fired in such quick succession that most of the men had not even had time to react before they were dead.

"Does anyone see anything unusual about this picture," Fury asked quietly and each of them nodded grimly.

"Every arrow is directly through the right eye and none of the men had time to run," Bruce murmured as he examined the picture as though it were a puzzle to solve.

"Exactly. Our forensics experts at the time estimated that all six shots would have been fired within a fifteen second window. I don't think I need to tell you that that is an amazing time frame for someone shooting so accurately with a gun but unheard of with a weapon like a bow. Plainly our experts said it was impossible for one person to have done it but from the trajectory of the shots we were able to find his nest and only one person had been in it," Fury told them obviously still impressed by Hawkeye's skill while pissed that they had lost their best shot at getting the marksman on their side due to a stupid mistake.

"Since that first hit Barton has wracked up an impressive hit list that has included everyone from the head of a pedophile ring to a corrupt government head that had commited genocide within his country. In total 104 kills have been attributed to Hawkeye, he has never failed a contract once accepted, and he is one of the biggest persons of interest on SHIELD's list."

"Why has he never appeared on the SHIELD hit lists," Natasha asked and Bucky was unsurprised that she would know the names on that list, even in the short six months since Bucky had been at the Tower Natasha had been sent on two assassination missions.

"Honestly, because Hawkeye has never taken a hit on someone that SHIELD was not already gunning for. On a few occassions he has actually made the kills while our agents were waiting to make their own shots," Fury told them simply.

"So he is an assassin with morals. You don't find that a little weird," Stark asked scratching his head and then immediately ducking as a pencil shot toward his head from Natasha. Bucky knew she had meant to miss or else Stark would be bleeding out right now but he still tensed and placed himself more firmly between her and Steve.

"Present company excluded, of course," Stark quickly said with his hands up in a surrender gesture. Natasha twirled another pencil around her fingers but seemed molified by Starks words.

"You should be very glad for those morals, Stark," Coulson said calmly as he folded his hands in front of himself and looked at the billionare.

"And why is that," Stark asked flippantly and Bucky winced. For a man so brilliant, he could be really clueless.

"Because we know of at least three contracts on you he has turned down. In fact he has turned down contracts on everyone in this room. Sometimes more than once," Coulson told Stark then turned his attention to everyone at the table who stiffened at the news that this man had been offered money for their deaths.

"Well, I have awesome security," Stark tried to cover but Bucky could tell he was a bit shaken which only increased as Coulson said, not unkindly "Stark this man has gotten to targets that even SHIELD could not get at."

"Why would he refuse a contract on me? I fit his pattern," Bucky murmured and Steve turned to him in horror while Coulson looked at him with sympathy that he did not deserve.

Before either of them could answer Bruce took his glasses off his face and started polishing them as he said softly "I have to wonder the same thing about myself."

"Rumor was for you Banner Hawkeye said he didn't go after people who were suffering from an illness they couldn't control. Apparently he also thought you couldn't be blamed for most of the destruction since you had tried to remove yourself from conflict and 'assholes with nothing better to do than make trouble sought you out' his exact words apparenty," Fury growled hands folded over his stomach in a deceptively relaxed pose. "For you Barnes, his answer was simplier, he said he was never taking a contract on a POW who had been tortured for seventy years and brainwashed into doing things against his will. He also apparently put the word out that he would take a contract out on anyone who took a contract on you for anything you did as the Winter Soldier."

Bucky stared at Fury stunned that someone who didn't even know him would defend him so. He knew Hawkeye was wrong, the blame was his, but even the fact that the man didn't blame him had him blinking his eyes rapidly as moisture gathered in them.

'Why do I have a leak,' Bucky thought fighting back the moisture and feeling vaguely ashamed of the moisture. Steve placed a discreet hand on his lower back right above his hip and the warmth of his hand helped give him something to ground himself.

Fury glanced at Natasha as though asking if she wanted the explanation that was given for having refused her contract but she shook her head minutely, her jaw clenched. Bucky could tell from her tense shoulders and distant eyes that she didn't want to hear the explanation not because she knew the contract was undiserved but because she was sure that the people who had tried to take out those contracts had been in the right and that Hawkeye was a fool for thinking differently.

"It sounds like this man has been doing good work, even if he has been going about it the wrong way. Why get the Avengers involved," Steve asked quietly as he studied both Coulson and Fury's grim faces. His hand remained a warm, comforting presence on his hip.

"As I said before, several attempts had been made to apprehend Hawkeye in the past but he had always treated the attempts as a sort of game. Our agents might come out of the game a bit bruised and battered, especially their egos, but he seemed to go out of his way not to seriously injure any of them. Even sent flowers to one agent who had fallen off some steps and broken a leg," Fury told them then added "That changed 29 hours ago when Hawkeye killed three of the strike team sent to capture him before escaping into the streets of Venice. If Hawkeye has changed his game, has maybe decided to work with someone that is against SHIELD we need to know and take him into custody or eliminate him completely."

Bucky tensed at that declaration but shook his head as Steve turned to him. He resolutely turned his attention back to Fury as the man brought in the strike team that had been sent after Hawkeye in Venice. The men and one woman of the team looked exhausted but they all lined up at parade rest in front of the bank of windows in front of the conference table. Bruce and Tony turned their chairs to face the eight people left from the original eleven man strike team giving them their full attention but Bucky found his attention drifting.

The leader of the strike team, Rumlow, stepped forward to present the teams report to the Avengers but Bucky kept loosing the thread of the conversation as he wondered if the real reason they had allowed him into this meeting had not been because of Steve but because they wanted the Winter Solider to take out a possible threat.

At the thought he realized that his hand was shaking and quickly put it under the table to hide it from Steve. Steve who would worry if he saw the shaking but wouldn't understand and Bucky couldn't explain. How could he tell Steve that he wasn't afraid that he couldn't finish the mission but that he was afraid because he honestly didn't want to take the mission. He didn't want to put a bullet in Hawkeye's brain, in a fight fine but not in cold blood, but he didn't think he could refuse. SHIELD knew what he was, they could send him to jail, could execute him without trial, and while he knew he deserved it he didn't want to hurt Steve. Steve thought he had his best friend back and didn't see the monster his best friend had become. He knew he should tell Steve the truth but he didn't want to see Steve hurt or see the disappointment and disgust on his face when he finally learned the truth.

The warm spray of familiar liquid shocked him out of his thoughts and a moment later the smell of warm copper and the sea washed over him as he took a breath. In the space of his first breath and his exhale three more warm sprays washed over the table and Bucky cocked his head as he reached a hand out to touch the tacky red liquid coating the wooden table in front of him. As though in a dream he looked up to see Rumlow and three others of the strike team looking in shock at the arrows sticking out of their chests before they crumbled forward as a final five arrows sliced through the air where the now shattered bullet proof glass had been and into the backs of the five remaining strike team members.

Suddenly the world sped up to normal speed and Bucky vaulted over the table with Steve and Natasha. Steve pushed Stark to Natasha who had grabbed Banner and was pulling the shocked scientist out of the room. Without missing a beat she reached out and snagged Stark by the back of his pants as he stumbled back into them and got him moving in the right direction. Bucky had a moment to hope that Banner would be able to keep the Hulk at bay before all his attention was focused on the man on the roof two buildings away from them. The man matched the smiling man they had seen in the briefing photo but he wasn't smiling now. Bucky had rarely seen anyone with such a look of cold fury about them, the man practically vibrated with his anger as he fitted another arrow to his bow and fired directly at them.

The arrow flew true but unlike the other arrows this embedded into the window sill. Bucky had only a moment two realize what was going on before he was flinging Steve, Coulson, and Fury away from the window as he made his own dive around the table. He upended the table just as the arrow blew out the remainder of the window, raining glass and bits of debree onto them.

"What in the fuck is going on," Fury growled as he swept an enraged stare at the room in general.

"We have to get out of this room," Coulson instructed ignoring Fury's completely retorical question since it was obvious SHIELD was under attack by the subject of their previous meeting. Bucky wondered if anything ever phased Coulson as the four men tried for the door.

Bucky would have sworn that Coulson had been low enough to the ground that Hawkeye should not have been able to pinpoint his location from his vantage point below their floors sight line but as soon as Coulson had stuck his head out of cover Bucky and Steve had heard the near silent whistle of an arrow and pulled the agent back into cover with the result that Coulson had ended up sprawled over Steve's lap. Steve stared down at the man in befuddlement and Bucky felt a flicker of amusement as both men blushed at the exact same time as Coulson tried to scramble off Steve without actually touching him.

Despite the situation Bucky felt a bit better knowing that Coulson could be flustered by at least one thing.

"Stevie, let me borrow your shield. I can draw his fire," Bucky whispered then flinched as Steve whispered furiously back "Absolutely not."

Bucky had known he wasn't to be trusted, he knew he was broken, but he had thought Steve would at least trust him to protect him. The knowledge that Steve didn't trust him even that far was like an actual physical wound to his gut and he actually looked to make sure an arrow hadn't made its way into his middle.

"Absolutely not," Steve told him then went on as he evaluated the room "If anyone is going out there it is me. I am more familiar with the shield and you can help evacuate Coulson and Fury.

Bucky looked up with a hopeful look at Steve and relaxed all over as he realized that Steve had not been voicing distrust in him but had been being his usual self-sacrificing self.

"We are not being evac'ed like civilians," Fury growled low then gestured for them to have eyes on him. "Cap you go first with Barnes on your left. Both of you high, Coulson and I come next covering low. Understood."

They nodded then in quick succession vaulted over the table with Steve taking point, the shield out and ready. They halted at the blown in window as they took in the empty roofs before them.

"He was on the second roof," Coulson murmured as he scanned the area "he could have vaulted to the roof of the commissary but no other buildings would be in reach unless he ran a line between the buildings."

Fury continued to sweep the area with his eyes as he clicked on his ear piece.

"This is Fury. We have a perimeter breach and eight agents down in building C, floor 11, briefing room 1102. The compound is to go on immediate lock down ," Fury paused to glance to Coulson who was checking each agent then nodded at Rumlow "One agent needs medical treatment stat."

Fury made a move out signal and they all backed to the door with Coulson dragging Rumlow. Bucky had offered to carry the man but Coulson had shaken his head saying he would be more useful if it came to a fight than he would.

Bucky checked the corridor then gave the all clear when he saw only Banner and Stark. Banner was leaning against the wall obviously trying to keep calm while Stark was ranting to Jarvis as he grabbed the suitcase containing his suit from Fury. He felt a moment of disorientation as he realized that the whole attack and evacuation had taken less than two and a half minutes.

"Natasha," Coulson questioned Banner who glanced up at the agent with slightly green eyes. Coulson merely raised an unimpressed eyebrow which surprisingly made the doctor breathe out a startled laugh.

"She took off after the attacker once we were safe," Bruce told them as he finally straightened from where he had been propping up the wall and moved to help Rumlow.

Coulson just nodded as Fury continued to issue orders through his comm.

"What the hell was that," Stark ranted and Bucky could clearly still read the tension in his body.

"That was Hawkeye declaring war on SHIELD," Coulson told them grimly.

"A guy with a bow is declaring war on an international spy organization? Seriously," Stark shouted.

"A guy with a bow just took out eight of SHIELD's best agents while the Avengers stood by helpless," Steve reminded him grimly and Stark stilled for a minute before nodding.

"I am going to go scout the area. Do you two want me to drop you off anywhere," Stark asked grimly as he made his way back to the door into the briefing room.

Steve and Bucky both shook their heads. Neither of them were going to make themselves such tempting targets by being dangled in the air.

"Alright, I am off," Stark announced but Coulson stopped him with a hand to his metal chest.

"Stark be very careful. Hawkeye is one of the best and while I am sure a normal arrow would have no chance against your suits what he was firing were definately not normal arrows."

Stark actually seemed to consider Coulson's words before nodding an affirmative and moving back out the door. Bucky caught Steve's eyes and within moments they were both hurtling down the hallway and through the door to the stairs. They took the stairs a landing at a time and in under thirty seconds they were sprinting out of the building and toward the building where Hawkeye had been.

Passing a group of milling agents, tech personnel from their uniforms, Steve pushed the lot of them toward the nearest building while confiscating an ear piece from two of them.

"Get inside and stay undercover till the all clear comes," Steve ordered them as he pushed the last of them through the building's door and they continued their sprint through the compound. Bucky was glad that the compound was outside the city or they might have an even bigger mess on their hands.

Wordlessly Steve handed Bucky an ear piece and Bucky slipped it over his ear while he continued to scan the area his metal arm ready to deflect an arrow at any time.

"Natasha, do you read," Steve said into the comm then continued in silence for a moment before Natasha's voice came over the comm.

"Captain, I am on the roof of the building where the attack occured but there is no sign of Hawkeye. I can't find any kind of line down," Natasha told them as they continued to move through the mostly deserted compound.

"Wait, I see him. He is at the edge of the woods moving north. Unsure how he got out of the building but I am in pursuit," Natasha called before the line cut off.

 

 

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Thank you all for reading!

 

 


	2. The Bird and the Spider play Cat and Mouse

Thank you guys for being awesome and reading. Also, if anyone knows of a beta, send them my way.

 

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Natasha hooked a grappling hook to the side of the building before she slid silently over the edge. When she was two stories from the ground she let go of the rope and dropped gracefully to the ground below. She was up and moving after her target before the dust of her landing had even settled.

 

Her mind tried to turn to the events of the past hour but she ruthlessly pushed the thoughts and questions away for another time, however, her mind kept drifting toward wandering why this sudden attack. The problem was that the attack didn't make sense. The man had had the Avengers, Coulson, and even Fury in his sights and yet he had deliberately picked off the strike team. What had happened in Italy? This didn't have the feel of an attack on SHIELD instead it felt more personal.

 

A flicker of gold through the trees had her raising her gun but before she could fire an arrow slid between the delicate bones of her right hand, pinned her hand to a tree, and sent her gun flying. Her left hand reached out automatically to catch the falling gun but an arrow came out of nowhere and knocked the weapon well out of her reach.

 

Looking up she met a pair of blue/gray eyes and the absolute fury inside them convinced her that she was facing her death. She tried to unobtrusively palm a throwing knife but an arrow aimed at her heart made her to stop as the man growled "Don't."

 

Natasha inclided her head in argeement as she raised her unpinned hand up in a sign of surrender.

 

"Stay there," Hawkeye told her before melting back into the tree cover. Despite her best efforts she lost track of the marksman as he moved away from her and further into the tress. Gathering herself once she was sure he was out of earshot she pulled her hand free of the arrow pinning it to a tree. The pain had her gritting her teeth but stubbornly she pushed away from the tree and tried to find the man's trail.

 

"Guys," Stark's voice sounded over the comms "I have a visual and I am going in."

 

Natasha cursed as she saw the bright red of Stark's suit diving from the sky. Quickly she sprinted through the trees as quietly as she could but she knew she was too late as Stark's angry voice came over the comms cursing up a storm.

 

"Ironman, are you alright," Steve called over the comms. "What is your position?"

 

"The bastard just hit me with some sort of arrow that delivered a localized EMP blast. I am still in the air but the blast knocked out the circuitry in my right arm. I am having real trouble manuvering," Stark told them tension clear in his voice. The sound of machine gun fire sounded through the air followed by Stark's astonished voice over the comms "What is this guy, part monkey? JARVIS are you targeting at all?"

 

Natasha moved quickly toward the fight. She brought up her knife as she broke the tree line and spotted Hawkeye as he broke cover while dodging a volley of bullets from Ironman. Natasha was struck for a moment at the suicidal move before she saw Hawkeye jump into the air while spinning to the side to avoid the bullets slicing through the air all while he strung an arrow and fired a direct hit to Ironman's midriff.

 

An electrical charge danced across the suit and Stark's voice cursed over the comms as the suit abruptly lost power.

 

"The bastard hit one of the main circuit relays. How did he even know where it was," Stark cursed as the suit jerked helplessly on the ground.

 

Without another moments hesitation Natasha threw her knife with deadly accuracy at Hawkeye's unprotected neck but without even turning his body Hawkeye shot the knife out of the air with a well placed arrow. Another arrow was notched and aimed at her before she could even take two steps forward and once more she faced this man over the tip of an arrow.

 

"You don't know when to quit," Hawkeye growled.

 

"Bad habit of mine," she murmured with a pleasant smile and a softening of her eyes to make herself appear more delicate. She didn't think she could actually seduce this man but most men let their guard down slightly around smaller women.

 

Hawkeye snorted at her attempts "You're barking up the wrong tree Widow but I will give you points for effort. Unfortunately, I can't let you follow me so what should I do with you."

 

The answer was obvious to her and she braced to dodge the arrow about to come her way but instead the archer motioned his head toward the motionless Ironman armor.

 

"If you want to keep your team mate alive I suggest you go loosen his face plate before he suffocates," the man suggested.

 

Natasha glanced to where Stark sprawled in the suit then up at the man with a weapon trained on her.

 

"If I wanted to shoot you I don't need to wait till your back is turned," Barton told her with a cold smirk.

 

"Stark," Natasha called and Stark's gasping voice came over the comms.

 

"He is telling the truth. He took out the suits oxygen recycler. I am running out of air but I still don't know how he knows that," Stark grumbled in a breathless voice.

 

Natasha grimaced as she walked slowly over to the suit and knelt down to depress the hidden button that would manually disengage the Ironman faceplate. She expected an arrow in her back at any moment but to her surprise the arrow never came.

 

"Hey, beautiful," Stark greeted her with a gasp as he sucked in long drafts of air.

 

"You should really build in a back up oxygen retention system into your suits," a voice called and Natasha spun as she felt more than saw something sailing through the air at them. Automatically she caught the object and stared blankly at the cuffs she held in her left hand.

 

"What in the fuck," Stark said for both of them. Hawkeye merely stared the billionaire down before turning his attention to her.

 

"Use each set to cuff yourself to the hands of the Ironman suit," the man told them as he allowed his eyes to roam over the tree line. Natasha had no doubt that despite his inattention he could have them dead in a moment if she made a move to escape or attack.

 

Slowly she started to handcuff her right wrist to Stark's left wrist but Hawkeye made a tutting noise.

 

"Right to right, Widow. I don't want you to have any manuvering room."

 

Natasha gritted her teeth and straddled the armor as the man asked. She tried to leave the handcuff with a bit of give but closed the cuffs more securely when Hawkeye merely raised an expectant eyebrow at her.

 

On the second cuff she pretended to struggle to tighten it and a moment later an arrow bloomed beside her left knee leaving a line of fire along her skin.

 

"Don't play with me Widow. Use your knee to tighten the cuff or the next arrow will go through you and into Stark's brain," the man growled his eyes cold as he watched them.

 

Wordlessly she did as asked and felt distinctly helpless as the man regarded her. There were a few moves still open to her but none of them would work unless the archer got much closer to her.

 

"If I say that I have had fantasies that ended up with us in this same position will you kill me," Stark asked with a false show of bravado. Natasha turned to look over her shoulder at him as she told him menacingly "Yes."

 

Stark smiled back at her reassured by her lack of fear as she had hoped he would be.

 

"All right I won't say it but I am hoping that the suit video is still recording. This is a great view," Stark rambled.

 

An amused snort from in front of them surprised them both but when Natasha turned back the archer was composed and glaring at them as though angry that they had made him lose his composure.

 

"See ya Widow, Ironman," Barton said as he turned to move to the opposite tree line but as he was completing the turn he notched an arrow and fired faster than Natasha's eyes could follow.

 

The arrow sped into the tree line behind them as he took off at a full sprint away from them and moments later an explosion sounded from behind them. Natasha automatically stretched her legs back to cover Stark's face and for a moment met his startled eyes as debree rained around them.

 

"Don't even get any ideas," she told him in a deadpan voice.

 

"Too late," he snarked back and she allowed her mouth to curl in a small smile.

 

"Have any idea what that was about," he asked but that question was quickly answered as Steve and Bucky came pelting out of the trees to their side. Both were covered in ash, dirt and small pieces of wood indicating that they had been far closer to the blast than was safe.

 

Looking back to the woods she noted that Hawkeye had disappeared but moments later she watched as a helicopter lifted off from a nearby clearing. Natasha noted that Hawkeye was watching them out of the open side door of the 'copter his bow at the ready to counter any attack they might make.

 

Steve reached up to click his comm on saying clearly "This is Captain Rogers requesting air support. Hawkeye is heading north by northeast from our position in a Black Hawk helicopter. I repeat this is Captain Rogers requesting air support."

 

The comms crackled for a second before Commander Fury's growl came over the comms "Understood Captain and request denied. Return to base."

 

"Director, we can still catch him," Steve protested but Fury cut him off angrily.

 

"Return to base, Captain Rogers, that is an order."

 

"Understood, sir," Steve said as he glanced in bewilderment at his team mates.

 

Bucky gently reached down with his metal hand and snapped the cuffs holding Natasha and Tony in place then he picked up Tony, armor and all and they started back to base.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thank you for reading and remember kudos and comments fuel my muse.

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	3. No You Can't Lie, Steve and a Preceived Betrayal

And since that last chapter was so tiny here is a bigger one for you to thank you for reading.

 

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Steve pressed his lips together hard as he fought not to question his superior officer in public as Coulson led the team to Fury's office. The look of absolute rage on Fury's face as they entered his office surprised him enough that he was able to swallow his protests as they waited for Fury to finish his phone call. The man snarled as he slammed his phone down on his desk and Steve blinked as he heard the distinct sound of plastic cracking.

 

Coulson lifted a questioning eyebrow at the Director who shook his head in the negative before leaning back in his chair and exchanging a silent conversation with Coulson. Tony completely uncaring of the tension filling the room limped to the nearest chair and collapsed into it with a pained groan.

 

Steve winced in sympathy. While the Ironman suit had taken most of the impact of the fall Tony was still littered with bruises and they had managed to twist Tony's ankle as they had been trying to get the suit off of him. Medical had wanted to keep both him and Natasha but both had refused to be left behind. Natasha had allowed the medical staff to suture her hand but had refused all other treatment while Tony had growled at every doctor in the place until they had left him alone after getting him in a brace for his ankle.

 

"Stark what are you even doing here? Get back to medical," Fury growled as he opened his laptop with jerky movements and began bringing up documents.

 

"I don't need medical. What I needed was a quinjet twenty minutes ago so we could go after the wacko parading around as Robin Hood. The same asshole who just handed us our asses on a silver platter," Stark snarled back then added "Hell I would have taken an old army helicopter instead of just letting that bastard get away."

 

"Stark," Fury warned the vein at his temple throbbing visibly as Fury ground his teeth in anger.

 

"Sir, with all due respect, I don't understand why you didn't issue us an aircraft. We could have brought Hawkeye in," Steve said trying to calm the situation despite his own frustration that the man had gotten away.

 

Coulson exchanged a look with Fury who gestured with his hand that Coulson was to field the question as he turned back to typing furiously on his computer. Steve hid a wince as the man jabbed the keyboard hard enough to break a less rugged laptop.

 

"I am afraid Captain, Mr. Stark that we couldn't have issued you a plane because SHIELD's New York branch does not have any in service at the moment," Coulson told them grimly.

 

"I don't understand," Steve admitted in confusion. He knew the New York branch had hangers full of aircraft.

 

"Captain, do you think we didn't try to put eyes in the sky when we realized we were under attack. We weren't able to get a single aircraft into the air because they have all been compromised. The best airsupport I could give you at the moment is some sticks and paper so you could make a kite," Fury told them as he slammed his fist onto his desk in frustration.

 

"How....," Steve started shocked as he looked between Fury and Coulson.

 

Fury ignored him in favor of abusing his laptop but Coulson sighed tiredly as he explained "Most of the planes showed signs of having had their electronic systems scrambled, some actually had damage to the engines, and some we haven't even begun to understand the damages done to them. The damages are not the real problem at the moment," Fury shot his best agent a quelling look at those words but Coulson ignored it easily as he went on to explain "The problem is that without airsupport we are in a very vulnerable position. It was why we couldn't explain to you the problem over the comms. We can't have this situation known until we can get some air crafts up from the surrounding headquarters."

 

"But how the hell did he get to all of them," Stark asked clearly puzzled. "You lot have hangers everywhere not to mention those new planes you are working on under building A. He shouldn't have been able to get to all of them."

 

"How do you know about those new planes," Fury asked looking ready to throw Tony under building A and throw away the key but Tony either didn't see the look or didn't care because he waved his hand lazily through the air "With the sad level of incription on those files you can't have been very worried about keeping them a secret."

 

Steve moved a bit so that he could grab the Director if he made a move to launch himself across his desk at the insane billionaire but instead of attacking the other man the Director smirked.

 

"Well, Stark since you are so interested in this problem I think I will allow you to help fix the sabotaged planes," the Director practically purred at Stark's shocked face.

 

"You can't afford to have me working on your planes," Stark said but Fury's smile merely widened.

 

"You're probably right but I think you will be volunteering your time or I will send Ms. Potts video of last Thursday when you decided to take the suit out to Mt. Rainier. I can't imagine that she will be very pleased with you for......"

 

"Alright. Alright I will do it," Tony growled as he levered himself up to his feet and hobbled to the door.

 

"Stark, while I commend your patriotic zeal we still have a debrief to do," Fury hummed a hint of sadistic pleasure in his tone at having made Tony get up in the first place.

 

"Congrats. You may actually be a bigger asshole than Robin Hood," Tony shot back as he limped back over to his vacated chair, glaring all the while at anyone who even seemed ready to claim his seat. Steve felt a bit bad for him as he sat stiffly once more and wondered if he should have tried harder to get Tony to stay in medical.

 

Steve, also, had to admit a certain amount of curiosity about what Tony could have been doing that he would not want Pepper to know about. With most people he might have thought he was cheating but Tony had so little shame about sex that he probably would have just asked Pepper to join him and his potentional lover for a threesome.

 

"He was riding the Ironman suit like a surfboard as Jarvis flew it," Coulson told him as he looked to him for clarification.

 

"Wow," Bucky said and Steve agreed. Pepper would kill Tony if she found out that he was doing stuff like that with the suits.

 

"Hey, don't tell him," Tony exclaimed pointing at Steve "He can't lie worth a damn and he is always talking with Pepper. She will know within the week now."

 

"I can keep a secret," Steve said offended. He didn't understand why everyone in the future thought he never lied. He did, it wasn't like he was a saint or something.

 

"Yeah right," Tony muttered as he fiddled with his phone. Hitting a final button he flicked his finger at Fury and settled back in his seat with a not entirely faked sigh of relief. "There is all the video that the suit had from the moment I took off to the moment Bucky Bear dragged be to medical."

 

"Good," Fury told him distracted as he brought the footage up on a projected screen.

 

"I so can lie," Steve hissed at Tony a bit petulantly as they dragged up seats to go over the footage.

 

"No, you really can't," Bucky said matter-of-factly from beside him.

 

Steve sent his best friend a betrayed look which had him shrugging guiltily, Steve was secretly glad that he hadn't shrunk away from him as he had during the first few months of his recovery at any sign of negative emotion.

 

"Sorry, pal, but you can't lie for shit. You always look guilty," Bucky explained with a slight teasing light in his eyes.

 

"But...," Steve started but was interrupted by Natasha "Steve, you are a horrible lier. Learn to accept it. You have a lot of other skills."

 

Steve looked at her surprised at her betrayal then looked to Coulson expecting him at least to be on his side.

 

Coulson simply held up a warding hand as he said "You can't lie. Sorry, Steve."

 

Steve opened his mouth to protest, he had lied plenty of times, but Fury cut him off impatiently "Captain, we are never going to send you on any undercover missions because a) you have one of the most recognizable faces in the world and b) you can't lie for shit. Now shut up all of you and pay attention. We need to figure out how this bastard got the drop on us and why he even bothered."

 

Steve snapped his mouth shut quickly as the comment brought him back to the problem at hand, with new purpose he turned his attention to the projection.

 

They watched as Ironman did a fly over of the compound before flying further out over the woods and spotting Hawkeye in a small clearing. The archer stared up at the camera coldly and seemed to be waiting for Tony. The whole scene felt off but Steve was hard pressed to figure out why until he looked at the scene as a whole.

 

"Can you pause the video," Steve asked and at once Fury tapped the screen of his laptop stopping the image at a still of Hawkeye's grim eyes starring at them.

 

"Back up the footage till Tony is just coming over the trees, please," Steve requested as he stood to study the footage from a different angle.

 

As the footage scrolled backwards he noted the way that Hawkeye stepped out of the trees just as Tony would have come within his sight line.

 

"Stop the footage there," Steve murmured quietly as he studied the scene.

 

"What are your thoughts, Captain," Coulson asked him quietly as he shifted around the room to view the footage at different angles.

 

"I'm not completely sure yet," Steve murmured in answer to Coulson's question then turned to ask Natasha "Could you point to the first place you encountered Hawkeye?"

 

Cooly she tapped a point in the forest off to the right of the clearing adding "I am not completely sure if that is the correct location but it is within twenty yards of the location."

 

"And where did you see the helicopter take off from," he asked as he visually measured the distance from Natasha's first encounter with Hawkeye to the clearing where the fight had occurred.

 

"It took off from a clearing right behind these trees," Natasha told him pointing to a cluster of trees that was located to the far right of the clearing.

 

At her words Steve straightened up now sure of his suspicions.

 

"What do you see, Cap," Fury asked as Steve backed away once more to look at the image as a whole.

 

Steve ran his eyes over the image once more to be sure then finally said "Hawkeye lured Ironman in."

 

"Explain," Fury ordered as he sat up slightly in his seat to look the image over again.

 

"This is where Hawkeye pinned Natasha down," Steve said pointing to the woods at bottom right of the clearing "and this is where the helicopter Hawkeye used to escape was," he continued moving his hand to the take off point which was well to the right of the clearing where they had confronted Hawkeye.

 

Turning back to face the room Steve continued "There was no need for Hawkeye to deter into that meadow except to draw Tony's attention. It also explains why Hawkeye didn't knock Natasha out or kill her. If we had lost radio contact with her we would have checked at her last known coordinates which would have allowed us to regroup."

 

"Possibly Captain but he could have easily lost his way in the woods," Coulson said as his sharp eyes scanned the image. Steve could tell the man already believed him and was just playing devil's advocate in order to get his thoughts on the situation.

 

"Maybe but I don't think so. He planned this too well. He had already taken out all our air support and just as Ironman comes within his sight line he stepped out from cover to confront the last person on our team who could follow him in the air?"

 

"It is likely that the first arrow that hit Tony was meant as a test to see if they would work against the suit but once Hawkeye saw there affect," Steve mused aloud as the picture of the enemies plan came together in his mind.

 

"The first arrow wasn't a test, it was an opening attack," Tony's flippant voice cut him off and Steve looked over to the man who had been flipping through his phone while they were discussing the attack. Steve had been half convinced he wasn't paying them the slightest bit of attention but he should have known better. Tony Stark might not show it but the one thing he truly cared about were his friends and Hawkeye had proven a threat to his friends so he was taking anything to do with him seriously.

 

Steve noted the tense set of Tony's shoulders, the slight purse of his lips, and the way the lines around his eyes had deepened with tension and realized with a shock that Tony was almost enraged about something which made no sense. Tony had been upset when they came into the room but more with frustration than anything else but now he was furious.

 

"What are you talking about Stark," Fury growled sending the man a hard look which softened somewhat as he took in the tension around their resident genius.

 

"The suit, the one I had with me today was built with a back up relay system. A back up relay, I might add, that I very brilliantly shielded in the left breast of the suit," Tony exclaimed as he looked up at them with a fluriosh of his hand and a smile that was a touch too feral "The relay system was very well shielded, as I said, very cleverly shielded but it did have one flaw. Had to run the wiring for the arm somewhere. Well I directed most of the wire away from the back up relay but there was a bundle of wires that I couldn't run around the relay. The relay was shielded but if those wires received too much of a shock it still would have downed the relay. So I, cleverly might I mention, made it so that that particular set of wires was very well shielded too. In fact they were so well shielded that there was only one point in their whole length that they could have been hit without hitting other wires that would have tripped a fail safe which would have shut down the wires running near the relay thereby saving the relay."

 

"Stark," Fury barked cutting the genius off mid-rant "We get that the wires were important but we don't understand why you think the first arrow was deliberate rather than a test strike."

 

Tony looked around at them and took in their clueless expressions, well Bruce looked like he understood if his closed eyes and slumped posture were any indication, before rolling his eyes and throwing up his hands. Abruptly, he stood up from his chair and limped around the room as though suddenly unable to contain himself.

 

"You...you saw the schematics. You explain," Tony growled pointing an imperious finger at Bruce. Bruce rubbed a hand over his face tiredly before looking up at the room at large.

 

"Tony had every fail safe imaginable built into that backup relay, however, there was a tiny, very tiny," Bruce added placatingly at Tony's outraged look "flaw in the fail safes. A set of wires had to be run near the backup relay. If those wires were hit my enough electrical current then they could have fried the backup relay so Tony insulated them as best he could and placed a fail safe around those wires so that if a set of wires running around the first set of wires was hit then all the wires in the suits arm would have shut down making the suit arm useless but saving the backup relay. However, there was a very small area of vulnerability in the elbow of the suit where the bundle of wires could not be insulated by the protective wires due to mobility issues. The unprotected area was about the size of a dime and any charge would have had to be set off directly in the bundle of wires to have any affect, well unless it was an absolutely massive surge which would have probably destroyed the suit anyway."

 

Banner blushed as he realized that he was going off target and coughed to hide his embarrassment.

 

"What I was trying to say was that the arrow had to have hit the bundle of wires directly in that one spot and that the main part of the EMP would have had to have been directly within the bundle of wires to have caused the backup relay to short out," Bruce finished explaining.

 

"In order words," Tony snarked as he paced back and forth from Fury's desk to the door "if that shot was an accident then it was a one in a million, no one in a billion. Which means one thing."

 

Tony turned to them sweeping a glare over Natasha, Coulson, and Fury in particular.

 

"Someone who I trusted stole the plans for that suit and either told someone who told someone or kept them on a computer with crap encoding," Tony finished that last part with a particularly venomous glare at Fury.

 

"Stark, we don't have any of your suit plans. Believe it or not but since you joined the team I have kept my people largely out of your business," Fury calmly informed the furious billionaire as he leaned back in his chair to observe the room at large.

 

"Then who in the hell else could it be. That relay was too well hidden and the wiring a design that I came up with myself," Tony shouted, flinging his arms in the air in frustration then wincing as his bruised ribs protested.

 

Steve winced in sympathy at the obvious pain the other man was experiencing.

 

"What about the suit you gave to your friend. Rhodes. Could the army have taken it apart," Bucky asked quietly his hair covering his face as though he were trying to hide from his own boldness at speaking in front of this many people.

 

Tony turned as though to snap at him but Steve saw him visibly rein in his temper as he realized it was Bucky that was asking. To his immense surprise, Tony had actually shown surprising empathy with Bucky even after learning that he had been responsible for the man's parents' deaths while he was the Winter Soldier.

 

"Not possible. Rodney's suit is an older model and while I have updated it frequently its backup relay was in a total different area than the relay in this suit. Hell the main relays are in different areas in those two suits," Tony said in a softer voice that did little to hide his confusion and exasperation with the whole issue.

 

"Stark, who had access to your schematics," Coulson asked reasonably.

 

Tony breathed out a sigh of frustration as he continued to pace but finally he snapped out "Bruce has unlimited access, JARVIS obviously, Pepper can access any of the files through Jarvis. None of them would have spilled my secrets and JARVIS hasn't been hacked."

 

Bruce looked up at Tony at this declartion of trust seeming touched that someone trusted him with their secrets without question.

 

"Who has access to the lab and was there while you were working on the suit design," Coulson asked and met Tony's eyes squarely as he turned to glare at him.

 

"Fine," Tony huffed before listing quickly "Fem fetale over there and Capiscle. Bucky has permission to visit but....well the lab isn't the best place for him at the moment." Tony finished his statement ackwardly as he shot a guilty glance at Bucky. The one and only time that Tony had tried to show Bucky his lab had ended with Bucky hospitalized because he had broken through the plate glass around the lab in his panic to get away from all the whirring machines.

 

Bucky ducked his head at the reminder and ackward silence reined for a second before Natasha flicked a wad of paper at Tony which struck the man right between the eyes. Steve shot her a small grateful grin which she returned minutely.

 

"You know you're going to put my eye out by accident one day and feel horribly guilty about it," Tony told her with a pout.

 

"It wouldn't be by accident and I wouldn't feel guilty about it," Natasha rejoined as she went back to studying the image still on the wall.

 

"That is actually far more frightening than it should be. Why am I now afraid of paper balls," Tony mused as he went over to poke Bruce in the arm.

 

"I would say it was because your sense of self-preservation had kicked in but that obviously isn't the case," Bruce told him as he stared down, unimpressed, at the digit still poking him in the arm.

 

"Hey, we are science bros, you are not supposed to agree with her," Tony groused before flopping onto the arm of Bruce's chair then immediately yelping as it jarred his injuries.

 

"I just state it like it is and will you please stop flopping around. You are going to cause one of your broken ribs to shift and puncture your lung at this rate," Bruce told him sternly.

 

Tony merely waved a dismissive hand in his direction before focusing back to Coulson.

 

"I get where you are going with this Agent Agent but come on. Capiscle isn't about to sell out my secrets, Bucky doesn't want anything to do with my lab, and you said Natasha hadn't been ordered to spy on me so that leaves her out," Tony groused.

 

"What about Colonel Rhodes? Would he have had access to your lab," Coulson asked calmly.

 

"Rodney wouldn't betray me," Tony defended hotly.

 

"JARVIS has footage from your lab. Ask him who was in the lab with you any time the plans for your new armor were on display. That would narrow down the list of suspects," Coulson suggested easily causing Tony to scowl but he reluctantly put JARVIS on speaker and requested the information.

 

"Sir, according to my files only two people were ever in the lab with you during times when plans for that particular armor were displayed. The first was Captain Rogers, though only the modifications undertaken to the boot stabilizers were on display while he was in the lab and the second was Colonel Rhodes," JARVIS informed them and somehow Steve could tell that JARVIS regretted giving Tony that piece of news.

 

"What parts were on display when Rodney was in the lab," Tony asked in a pained but hopeful voice as if he wanted badly to be told their suspicions were wrong.

 

"A complete schematic of the suit was on display, along with several images showing detailed design ideas for the propulsion system and new rocket launchers," JARVIS told them his crisp british accent falling into the room like a bomb.

 

"Right," Tony said nodding before swallowing thickly.

 

"JARVIS, any chance you were hacked," Tony asked flatly.

 

"I am afraid all my scans have indicated that my security protocals are intact, sir."

 

"Right," Tony said again as he stared at the carpet blinking furiously.

 

"Tony," Bruce started sympathetically but stopped at a loss for words.

 

"It is fine. I get it. He is army. Swore to protect and serve and all that. I get it," Tony rushed out as he pushed himself up to resume his frantic pacing.

 

"Stark," Coulson said as the man passed him for his second circuit of the room. Tony ignored him but Coulson stepped in front of him for his third circuit of the room and boxed him in so he couldn't go around him.

 

"What," Tony snarled clearly hurt at the preceived betrayal.

 

"Have you considered that Colonel Rhodes may not have betrayed you intentionally."

 

"Yes, because everyone unintentionally memorizes very complex suit schematics and tells them to their superiors who place them on servers that have crap firewalls," Tony snarled as he tried to go around the man again and head for the door.

 

Natasha snorted softly drawing Tony's ire.

 

"Wise up Stark. I have planted bugs and cameras on multiple targets without any of them being the wiser. You don't think something similar could have happened to Rodney," Natasha asked with a raised eyebrow.

 

"Rodney doesn't wear jewelry or glasses or anything else that could hold a camera and I would have noticed if he had started," Tony snarked but Steve could tell he was listening and hoping to be proven wrong.

 

"Actually he does," Bucky said softly from beside him drawing everyone's attention which had him stiffening minutely.

 

"What do you mean, Sergenant," Coulson asked softly, clearly trying to put Bucky at ease.

 

"His bars. The bars and stars he wore on his uniform and now the Colonel insignia. He often comes to see Tony fresh from active duty so he still has his uniform on and he did just move up in rank so he would have been given a new insignia," Bucky told them quietly while glancing up occasionally to see if his input was still welcome. Steve lightly touched his arm and grinned proudly at him when he lifted his head a bit to meet his eyes. A small twitch of the lips was his answer and suddenly he felt much better about today, since his friend had given him two almost smiles in the span of three hours.

 

"That...," Tony started then paused as his brain finally caught up with his mouth. "Damn. That could work, especially if the camera was set to passively record and store the images within the device. JARVIS checks for incoming video equipment but something like that would register like a phone's camera. We don't shut down phone camera unless they are in active use....."

 

Tony trailed off as his fingers flew over the screen of his phone.

 

"Stark," Fury said exasperated that the genius had gone off on a seeming mental tangent.

 

"What," Tony asked distractedly.

 

Fury glared back at the other man who was not even paying him the slightest bit of attention then asked in a long suffering voice "What are you doing?"

 

"Seeing how many projects might have been compromised by this," Tony told them briefly his eyes never leaving the screen of his phone.

 

"Let us know once you have the list of projects," Fury ordered and choose to ignore as Tony simply waved a limp hand at him as he scrolled down something on his phone.

 

"Coulson, contact our agents in Nevada and have Colonel Rhodes picked up and brought to New York. Get him loaned out to SHIELD or whatever you have to but I want him with his uniform. We need to find out how far this information has spread," Fury ordered and Coulson didn't even bother to nod as he was already on the phone ironing out the details needed to basically kidnap an army Colonel without it resulting in two government agencies going to war.

 

"Got it," Tony muttered sitting back in his chair and looking at his phone's screen with a grim expression.

 

"What damage are we looking at," Fury demanded his eyes fixed on Stark.

 

"You're not going to like it," Tony told Fury then cut his eyes to Bruce who straightened in surprise "Neither are you."

 

"The molecular work we were doing," Bruce asked his face paling then taking on a slight hint of green at Tony's grim nod. Abruptly the doctor stood from his chair and within three strides was out of the room. They waited but beside the sound of a door slamming at the end of the hall, around where the stairwell would be, they didn't hear the sounds of destruction that the Hulk could create.

 

"He is doing much better with the anger issues," Tony mused adding "I feel like hulking out about this."

 

"What molecular research were you working on, Tony," Coulson asked as he hung up his phone.

 

Tony waved a hand in the air carelessly "A way to molecularly block the Hulk transformation. Didn't pan out but the delivery mechanism allowed small amounts of liquid to be encapsulated with a complex nanotube structure. The structure was metabolized too slowly to be used for the Hulk but we thought it might be good for cancer drug delivery. Those applications failed also but we did find that it was incredibly good at delivering poisons. Obviously, once we realized that we stopped research on the compound but if someone got ahold of that research they could hurt or kill a lot of people."

 

"Wonderful," Fury sighed.

 

"It gets better," Tony drawled looking at the Director of SHIELD "Rodney was also in the room with his uniform on when I was doing the redesign for the just installed propulsion system on the helicarrier, when I was working on the designs for the new quinjet, and several times while I was designing armor and weapons for the team."

 

"Coulson," Fury bit out as soon as Tony had mentioned the engines for the helicarrier but Coulson was already pulling out his phone.

 

"Hill, this is Coulson. You have to set the helicarrier down in the nearest large body of water you can find. We have reason to believe that the designs for the engines may have been comprimised," Coulson explained then listened for a second before handing the phone wordlessly to Fury.

 

"Fury: authorization Gamma, Epsilon, Echo, Alpha, Charlie, Two, Nine, Zeta," Fury spoke calmly over the phone then wordlessly handed the phone back to Coulson after listening for a second.

 

Coulson ended the call then raised a brow at the Director who was slowly drumming his fingers against his desk as he likely contemplated a dozen plans and scenarios.

 

"They are landing off the Pacific Coast and will be making their way to the San Andilios base to allow the base mechanics to fix anything Stark tells them that needs fixing," Fury said grimly as he continued to drum his fingers on the desk.

 

"You know it isn't quite that easy, right. It took me about a week to put together those engines. They are works of art. Not even I can just pop out a better design over night," Tony complained.

 

"Stark," Fury warned but Tony ignored him as he said "You just don't understand how much I have to put into these designs."

 

"What I understand Stark is because you allowed those plans to be leaked I now have a major security threat," Fury snarled clearly at the end of his rope. Tony for his part looked like someone had punched him in the gut.

Steve's head came up at that blatantly unfair statement just in time to see the hurt and guilt flash through Tony's eyes before he was pulling his flippant and uncaring front around himself once more. Without thought Steve stepped between the two men.

 

"Director, that is unfair," Steve stated simply his voice and expression conveying his contempt for the blatant display of manipulation. Fury knew damn well that the best way to control Tony was to use a combination of guilt and prods to the man's weak self-esteem but Steve wasn't about to let the bullying occur while he was present. Fury turned his thunderous look onto him but Steve merely met his gaze squarely as he continued "Tony has always taken every precaution when it comes to his research. How could he have foreseen this when SHIELD, with all its experience at espionage, didn't anticipate a situation like this."

 

"Captain, this is not your problem," Fury told him coldly.

 

"Tony is a member of my team and my friend and with all due respect, sir, both those facts make this my business," Steve told the man calmly as he met him stare for stare.

 

"Captain Rogers, does have a point," Coulson said quietly causing Fury's anger to be directed at him. Coulson merely raised an eyebrow and for a minute the two men seemed to be having a silent conversation that none of the others understood.

 

"Fine," Fury finally said. "Stark, you're off the hook. Now all of you out. Coulson you are in charge of finding out what set Hawkeye off and either bringing the man in or stopping him permenantly. You are authorized to use any SHIELD resources that you might reasonably need and make sure to take the Avangers with you. I want them out of my sight. Dismissed."

 

"Sir," Coulson nodded in understanding then gestured for the rest to proceed him out of the room.

 

In the hall Tony turned to him a surprised and touched look in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, seemed to think better of it then finally said quietly "Thanks. You really think of us as friends?"

 

"Of course, Tony. You are a good person and I am glad to have you as a friend," Steve told him firmly.

 

Tony stared in surprise then a dark, bitter look came over his face as he flipped his sunglasses over his face.

 

"You really are too idealistic, Cap. I am not a good man at all," the wary twist of Tony's lips convinced Steve that he was repeating something he had heard and thought often.

 

Steve drew himself up with indignation on Tony's behalf and caught the other man by the arm as he turned to walk toward the elevator banks "Tony, you opened your home to us and despite the front you put up it is obvious you care deeply about each and every member of this team. If that doesn't make you a good man, a man worthy of our trust and friendship then I don't know what would."

 

Tony froze in front of him but Steve could see his eyes flicking to each of the others in the hall.

 

Natasha folded her arms across her chest and smirked at the billionaire "Do you think I would let anyone but a friend get away with oogling me while a crazy archer threatens to kill us?"

 

Steve blushed at her words but was glad to see Tony's lips curve up slightly. Bucky mearly nodded his head silently when Tony's eyes fell on him.

 

Coulson continued to type on his phone as he said "Stark, you make more paperwork for me than all my other agents put together but despite that I enjoy your company."

 

"Also, if you make me have to fill out a medical form where I have to explain how you lost your body hair to a crazied, intelligent electric razor you invented again I will personally kill you, slowly," Coulson added blandly as he tapped on his phone once more before putting it back in his pocket.

 

"It wasn't like I tried to do that," Tony whined but the tension around his shoulders had easied and he was grinning as they moved to the elevators.

 

"So what do we do now," Tony asked cheerily.

 

"We collect Bruce before we head to Italy to see why we have a pissed off archer launching attacks on SHIELD and during the plane trip we will have the debrief we missed," Coulson told him as they allowed the elevator to take them down to the lower levels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

One note: Natasha may seem a bit more closed off than typically portrayed and that is because she never had Clint to show her how to relax and have fun. Coulson tried but at heart he is a no nonsense kind of guy so it just wasn't the same as Clint's fun loving attitude. She is still a caring and loving person with those she care about as shown by her interactions with the team but she sometimes has a hard time relating and knowing how to act (not react) in certain social situations.

 

I just wanted to mention that because in the next chapter we see a bit more about her.


	4. Venice and a Secret Found

* * *

Hello everyone. Thank you for all the wonderful comments. Here is a chapter to say thank you. 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I have to admit I kind of like this guy," Tony announced with a laugh as he examined a photo of several unfortunate agents that had been sent to retrieve Hawkeye several years ago.

 

"Me, too," Bruce seconded chuckling over his own picture which depicted an agent that had had his hair literally cut into a mohawk by a series of arrows as he had been pinned to a wall by another arrow.

 

Tony barked a laugh as Bruce handed him the photo complete with caption.

 

"God, did you guys send the junior agents on these missions as punishment," Tony asked still shaking with laughter.

 

"Never the junior agents. They were sent to gain experience but the senior agents... well, if they pissed off the right person it was a foregone conclusion that they would be sent on a special retrieval mission," Coulson told them flatly but Tony could see the laughter in the man's eyes.

 

"But in fifteen years Hawkeye never hurt a single agent seriously enough to require more than a day in medical. Now we have nearly a whole strike team that has been slaughtered. We have to figure out what happened on that mission to change the man's attitude so much," Coulson continued the laughter dying in his eyes as he spread the photos of the dead strike team members on the table. Rumlow's face was absent as the man was still fighting for his life at SHIELD medical.

 

"These attacks, they served no real purpose. The team weren't tortured for information, they didn't know anything damaging to Hawkeye except that he had killed the three previous agents and killing the remainder of the strike team in such an obvious way would have negated that information. So we are left with Hawkeye holding a grudge for something but what would have made him go this far," Natasha asked studing them as they studied each of the photos in turn.

 

"Maybe he just got tired of being followed around by SHIELD all the time," Tony mused as he studied the kill shots. Every shot had been through the heart killing the target nearly instantly, Rumlow had survived only because his heart was offset slightly to the center of his chest due to a developmental abnormality.

 

"He has been on SHIELD's radar for over fifteen years. If he minded this much you would think he would have snapped before this plus all the other encounters were almost playful. In some of the encounters he actually helped the more promising junior agents develop tracking skills. No this feels personal," Natasha mused as she studied the pictures her hand lying lightly against the table top.

 

A tentative knock on the door leading to the front part of the plane broke the thoughtful silence that had descended over the cabin and Coulson called for the co-pilot to enter.

 

"Agent Coulson, you asked to know when we were about to land," the man said nervously then added as Coulson looked up "we will be landing at SHIELD's base right outside of Venice in approximately fifteen minutes, sir."

 

"Thank you, Agent Gladstock, please tell us when we have landed and can depart."

 

"Of course, sir," the man said quickly before moving back into the cockpit.

 

"Until we have further intelligence I believe we should put any speculation about Hawkeye's motives on the backburner," Coulson told them then flicked his eyes to Natasha and Steve as he said "Captain, it is my understanding that you speak some italian. Is that correct?"

 

"Yes, sir but it is pretty rusty. I only ever used it around our old neighborhood and during a brief mission along the Italian border during the war," Steve told Coulson earnestly who nodded.

 

"Captain, I would like you to accompany Agent Romanov on this mission. I believe that your presence might be useful," Coulson requested calmly but Tony didn't miss the way that Coulson's eyes slid to Bucky who was clutching the table like a life line.

 

Tony realized with a jolt that this would be the furthest apart Bucky had been from Steve since Steve had managed to rescue him from Hydra. Coulson apparently had realized how nervous the idea of Steve leaving made him for the man added easily "Sergenant Barnes, if you will stay with me so we can act as backup for Agent Romanov and Captain Rogers? We will be parked in a van three blocks away from the building where the strike team confronted Hawkeye."

 

Bucky looked at him a little wide eyed but relaxed and nodded after Steve set a hand on his shoulder and leaned over to whisper something in his ear.

 

"Very good. Doctor Banner if you would stay at the SHIELD base and monitor the audio and visual feeds."

 

Bruce nodded smiling wryly understanding clearly that Coulson wanted him out of the way of any potential fire fight. They did not need the Hulk running lose in Venice. Tony didn't even think SHIELD could keep it under wraps if that happened.

 

"And what about me," Tony asked cockily but inside his stomach twisted at the idea that Coulson might leave him out of this mission because he thought his tech was compromised. A protest was already forming on his lips as Coulson opened his mouth "I want you to be hacking the various security cameras around the area where the strike team encountered Hawkeye and make sure to get all possible video of the encounter."

 

Tony snapped his mouth shut on the snippy comment he was about to make about being just as useful without the suit then tried to come up with a witty remark that refused to come because of the relief flooding his system. 'He wasn't being excluded from the team,' he thought relieved.

 

"Got it. You want me to make a video montage," Tony snipped finally trying for bored indignantion at being made to do something so easy but even he could hear the relief in his voice.

 

"Make sure to add a suitable musical score in the background," Coulson snarked right back and Tony was immensely grateful that the man hadn't called him out for his momentary slip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Is everyone in position," Steve asked over the comms putting what he obviously thought was a descrete hand up to his ear to activate the tiny comm located behind his ear. The comm blended well with Steve's tanned skin and was undetectable unless one knew what to look for. Natasha looked over the Captain discreetly as they walked through the streets of Venice. He was dressed in jeans, a white pull over shirt, and a leather jacket. A baseball cap pulled low over his head hid most of his face but nothing could hide the musculature of his body or the way he moved with an easy confidence that frankly screamed leashed power.

 

Most people would have assumed that Steve had adopted that walk after he had undergone Project Rebirth or at least after his stint at basic and Natasha might have thought that once herself but as soon as she had been told that SHIELD was thinking of putting her on a team with their resident super soilder she had begun digging for information about him in the SHIELD archives and happened to stumble upon a video of Steve that had been taken at the world fair right after Dr. Erskine had picked him personally to try for a place in the project. Even then Steve had moved in a way, with an energy that just screamed here was a man that would not give up, who would fight against the world if he thought what he was fighting for was right.

 

Even at ninety pounds sopping wet Steve Rogers would have been someone Natasha would have been wary of in a fight. She could have taken him, she knew that, he had too many health issues back then for it to have ever been in doubt but people who fought with all their heart for a purpose other than themselves never went down easily or without doing some damage to their opponent.

 

She brought her complete focus back to the present, she never allowed all of her focus to wander, and to the task at hand as she studied Steve again. While he was dressed to blend in with the crowd there was no way around the fact that Steve Rogers just was not made to blend in. His every movement drew the eye and Natasha had no doubt that even if Steve were not 6' 2" and 240 pounds he would still draw the eye. Natasha suddenly had a great amount of sympathy for Bucky back in the 1940s as he tried, and failed, to keep Steve from attracting the attention of every bully in New York City. Steve's natural walk, the aura of confidence he projected would have drawn every low life and bully for miles around. Really it was amazing that Steve had survived as long as he had, she knew from experience he had the self-preservation instinct of a concussed lemming when he was fighting the good fight.

 

'Well at least this is not actually an undercover operation,' she thought ruefully as they finally reached the building where the SHIELD team had come into contact with Hawkeye. Subtle and Steve Rogers had never met, any infiltration missions the man had successfully pulled off during WW2 must have been because of luck and the stupidity of Hydra.

 

Steve was looking around at the surrounding buildings a frown on his face and she realized that he had noticed the bullet holes riddling the sides of some of the shops and the few panes of glass that had been shot out.

 

"I thought SHIELD agents were to hold their fire if it would endanger civilian targets," Steve said a worried frown creasing his brow and disapproval clear in his eyes. Until now the strike team had been the clear victims but Natasha could see the evidence as clear as Steve. A fire fight had occured here, in a highly civilian populated area, and it was obvious that the strike team had not taken any care in who they hurt in their quest to bring in Hawkeye.

 

"It is," she told him grimly. They shared a look before Steve gave a slight sad nod and walked up the steps of the apartment building Hawkeye had been found in. Politely Steve rang the bell for the landlord.

 

Natasha trialed behind him surveying the area for any signs of danger and for clues as to what had happened here. Down the street she was able to make out signs of further bullet damage which seemed to indicate that some type of chase had occurred.

 

'This isn't adding up," Natasha mused to herself as Steve rung the bell once more 'I can't believe that these were made by Hawkeye. The man is well known for his marksmenship with any weapon. If he had been firing he wouldn't have needed this bullet spray to have taken out his targets. Are these all from the strike team?'

 

Her train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a cane striking stone as it echoed to them from a side alley beside the building they were standing in front of. She caught Steve's eye motioning to the alley and he nodded obviously having caught the sound already.

 

A small woman old enough to have been a contemporary of Steve's hobbled out of the alley a while later and gazed up at them from her stooped position.

 

"Michael told me some strangers were ringing the bell," the woman said in a strong voice in slightly accented Italian "I am Sarah. I own this building. How may I help you?"

 

"It is a pleasure to meet you ma'am," Steve greeted pleasantly as he stepped hurriedly down to the street in a effort, wasted, to not tower over the woman so. Natasha caught the movement of a curtain above them and knew that they were being watched from several windows around the street. It seemed that the residents were nervous of strangers after the recent violence and wisely keeping to their homes.

 

"My name is Steve Rogers and this is Natasha Romanov," Steve continued smiling in a way so honestly open that it always caught Natasha by surprise. Steve's belief that everyone was good and the sincerety he put into every word and action had a startling power.

 

Sarah looked up at Steve then at Natasha before quirking a slight smile and nodding to herself.

 

"And what can I do for you both," the woman asked curiously some of her wariness having left her.

 

"We are trying to find out what happened here a few days ago," Steve told the old woman earnestly.

 

The woman stared at them and seemed to find something in Steve's painfully earnest eyes for she turned to the alley and gestured for them to follow her.

 

"Why would you want to know this? You are not police," she stated over her shoulder as she hobbled through the alley. Natasha wished that Steve had not followed the woman quite so easily, this alley was the perfect place to spring a trap, however they quickly came out into a courtyard ringed in by the many buildings in the area. A fountain in the center of the courtyard tinkled merrily while a ragtag assortment of tables and chairs were scattered through the courtyard. Beautiful old tile lined the walls around the pebbled area and potted plants were scattered everywhere.

 

Natasha studied the area and quickly realized that this must have been where the strike team first encountered Barton. Tables and chairs were overturned and Natasha could see where one flower pot had been shattered by a bullet. Her uneasy deepened as she noted that the bullet angles indicated that several people had been shooting down into the courtyard from the roofs of the buildings, from those vantages this courtyard would have turned into a killing field quickly.

 

She allowed her eyes to flit over Steve as he pivoted to take in the carnage around the area. A slow look of horrified disbelief took over his face as he put the pieces together and realized that the bullets into this courtyard must have come from the strike team.

 

Sarah was gazing at them consideringly and her eyes lingered on Steve before she limped over to a table that had obviously been righted only recently. Natasha could see scuff marks along one edge of the wood table and a crack radiating out from one banged up corner. Despite the damage to the table a tea set had been placed on its surface and Sarah gestured to the seats in front of her asking "Would either of you like to sit and have something to drink while we talk?"

 

"Thank you, ma'am," Steve said hurrying to pull her chair out for her and hold her hand as she sat. Sarah gazed up at him with amusement but allowed the treatment without a word. Natasha considered giving Steve a hard time about his manners when they returned to the Tower as he held her own seat out for her but decided that she actually liked being pampered.

 

Steve offered to pour the tea for them but Sarah waved him away with a smile and easily poured the tea for each of them. Natasha pretended to sip at the strong brew wary of poisons but suppressed a sigh as Steve trustingly took a sip then licked his lips appreciatively before taking a larger drink.

 

"This is deliscious, ma'am," Steve told Sarah enthusiastically as he sipped again.

 

"Thank you. It is a blend sold at the store over there," Sarah told them gesturing at the back of a building three buildings away.

"We will have to stop by. I have a friend who loves teas," Steve told her smiling.

 

Sarah laughed brightly at this statement.

 

"My husband used to love tea and he was so excited to discover that shop after we bought our building 42 years ago," Sarah confided with a happy light in her eyes as she lost herself a bit in memories.

 

"You must have had quite a few experiences during those 42 years, running an apartment," Steve said with a smile which had Sarah smiling back.

 

"You have no idea, young man, no idea at all," the old woman's smile dimmed though as she looked around at the destruction. "But we never had anything like this happen. This was a good neighborhood, poor but everyone helped each other and we always tried to scrape up enough for at least one gathering a month for all the neighbors. That is when this happened, during our monthly gathering, we didn't even know what was happening. Suddenly bullets were just raining down at us and people in dark clothes and with guns were blocking the exits."

 

Sarah paused considering then looked up at Steve.

 

"If I tell you what happened, what do you plan to do with the information."

 

"Find the people responsible for this and ensure that they can't hurt anyone again," Steve told her immediately his posture straightening and his voice ringing with his absolute conviction.

 

Sarah met him eye to eye and whatever she saw must have set her at ease.

 

"You seem like a good man Mr. Rogers and I trust that what I am about to tell you you will use to bring justice for what was done here. Justice for all," the woman said quietly but with emphasis on that last sentence.

 

"I know you two must be hunting young Clinton," the woman murmured after sipping on her tea and Steve blinked in surprise at her but Natasha kept her composure through years of practice. "I know he must have gone after those people that attacked us that night and upset a great many people. The boy was always rash but after what happened to...."

 

Sarah broke off before sighing sadly "I guess it is best to start from the beginning. Clinton has been living here for over three years. His apartement was on the top floor, corner overlooking the alley and courtyard. He never told anyone what he did but he would disappear for weeks on end and come back banged up so we suspected that he might be into something less than legal. Despite that I can't think of anyone who didn't adore Clint, though a few of his neighbors did want to strangle him on occassion."

 

At Steve's confused look she added with a chuckle "Clint is a natural prankster. Nothing mean but he would play a prank on anyone at anytime."

 

The woman smiled fondly as she remembered then looked to them her smile turning sad "Everything was fine that day. Clint was playing with the children, showing them some tricks he said he learned in the circus when without warning shots range out. My grandneice pushed me under a table but not before I saw Clint grab a stone and knock one of the gunmen off that building over there," she said indicating a building across the square. "Before I really knew what was going on Clint was herding the lot of us toward the nearest exit while throwing whatever he could at our attackers. We were making good progress when a man stepped out of the alley we had been heading for and leveled a machine gun at us. The man ordered us in English to stop and get down on the ground as he grabbed one of the girls who had been in the front. We had started to do as he said as he turned his attention to Clint and ordered him again in English to surrender or the girl would die. Clint had carefully put down the stones he had been throwing and moved over to the man. The man handcuffed Clint with some really strange cuffs and started to lead him out of the courtyard. As he was leading Clint out the man had held up a hand and before we knew what was going on bullets were exploding around us again. I heard Clint screaming and saw him struggling to try to get back but the man just knocked him over the head. We all probably would have died but as the man hit him Clint flipped backwards and...well he seemed to jump backwards through his own arms to get his hands in front of him. I really don't understand how he could have done that but that is what I saw."

 

The woman shrugged looking at them as though expecting to hear them call her a liar or senile. Steve gently squeezed her hand saying with a self deprecating twist to his lips "Don't worry that is far from the strangest thing we have seen happen."

 

"Well it was the most unusual thing I had ever seen," Sarah stated firmly but seemed relieved not to have to convince them of the truth "As soon as Clint's hands were in front of him he wrenched the gun from the man and snapped his leg up in a sharp kick to the man's chin that left the man unconscious. Then...then Clint shot the guns from those people and evacuated us from the courtyard. He got us all started toward the buildings when he realized that a group of the smaller children had fallen behind. One of the group attacking us had followed and the woman had raised her gun to shoot one of the children when he jumped in front of them. He took the bullet meant for that baby, my great granddaughter."

 

Sarah stopped as tears streaked down her face and she fought to contain her sobs.

 

"Clint took a shot meant for your great granddaughter," Natasha questioned in as gentle a voice as she could manage as she went over their previous encounter with Hawkeye. The man had not seemed injured in any way.

 

"No, no," Sarah said looking up at them with tears still tracking down her face "Matt did."

 

"Sarah who is Matt," Steve asked gently rubbing her trembling hand between his own larger ones.

 

"Matt was....is Clint's son," Sarah told them and seemed unaware as Steve stiffened in shock and Natasha blinked twice in surprise. No one had known that the legendary Hawkeye had a son.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The reveal! Clint is an awesome Dad and the strike team made a huge mistake going after his kid.


	5. A Promise, a Pair of Shoes, and a Change of Heart

Thank you everyone for waiting. Posting this even though I am not completely happy with it. (Beta where are you)

 

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They sat in silence for a bit before Steve asked sympathetically "Sarah, what happened after that?"

 

The woman took a deep breath to calm herself before saying "Clint went mad. I had never seen him angry, not truly angry before, but his eyes were so cold. He shot that woman square between the eyes before she could even blink then shot two others as he was putting Matt over his shoulder. He shouted for the rest of us to get to safety before he started running down the street while carrying Matt. Ceilo, one of our neighbors who owns a cab, came barrelling to a stop beside him. I don't know what was said but Clint hurried into the back of the cab just as the attackers started to flood the street. They took off and those people chased them. Ceilo said that Clint had been too busy trying to keep Matt from bleeding out to shoot at the people chasing them but that somehow they had managed to lose them. Clint directed Ceilo to what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse where an older woman rushed out to help them but when he took me back there the next morning, because I wanted to make sure Matt was ok, the warehouse was deserted."

 

The older woman's breath hitched and she had to duck her head to compose herself. Steve soothingly rubbed her hands between his own, his brow creased in concern and rightous anger tightening the lines around his mouth as his eyes scanned this peaceful place that had become a killing ground only a few days ago. Natasha allowed her eyes to wander the area again her own anger a coldly burning sensation in her gut.

 

Sarah looked up with teary eyes to study them both then said with an accepting if sad air "You are here to arrest Clint."

 

"Ma'am," Steve started in surprise but Natasha cut him off.

 

"How did you know?"

 

"I was born in 1936. Right after the war my parents, both doctors, came over to Europe to help rebuild. When they got to Italy they loved it so much that they stayed. After the war it was quite common for all the young girls to carry around pictures of a certain handsome American army captain and while I was too young for it my older sister had a picture of Captain America taped to her mirror. So when I saw all the stuff about the Avengers I knew that the Captain America on T.V. wasn't a new person donning the suit as people speculated but was the same person," Sarah told them with a sad little smile which took on a hint of mischief as she said to Steve "You have a very distinctive jawline, Captain and the bluest eyes I have ever seen. Hard to miss."

 

Natasha clamped down hard on the urge to snort out a laugh as Steve turned bright red under the teasing.

 

"Umm," he started inelegantly then looking at the older woman's watery eyes and sad smile his shoulders firmed. Suddenly Captain America was sitting in front of them instead of a blushing Steve Rogers and the change was startling. Gone was the blushing, shy smiling man of a moment before and in his place was the Captain who would fight off armies for what he felt was right.

 

"Ma'am, I promise you that no matter what I will not let anyone arrest Clint Barton for what happened here. The man acted heroically while putting himself in great danger and that deserves to be rewarded not punished," Steve stated with utter conviction. Natasha let out a small breath of frustration as she felt a headache building behind her right eye. Steve Rogers had just effectively set himself against all of SHIELD, probably the American government, the WSC, and possibly others for a man he didn't even know. She was going to have to get the evidence to have the charges against Barton dropped quickly or else Steve was going to start World War 3.

 

The older woman looked at Steve searchingly before she seemed to find what she was looking for as she sagged in relief tears welling in her eyes.

 

"Could you show us where Clint lived and give us directions to where Cielo dropped them off," Natasha asked quickly into the silence hoping to head off Steve promising this woman anything else.

 

Steve gave her a disapproving frown which she utterly ignored in favor of giving Sarah her best trust worthy expression.

 

"Why would you need to see Clint's apartment," Sarah asked a suspicious look coming over her face.

 

"We need to find out where he has gone so that we can help him and Matt. We have far better medical facilities than Clint will be able to find while on the run. Matt will need the best if he is to fully recover," Natasha told the other woman smoothly then added with a sincere expression "Plus we need to ensure that the people who did this don't get to him again. There is no telling what those people might do to Clint or even Matt if they got ahold of them again considering what they have already done."

 

Sarah followed Natasha's sweeping gesture that took in all the damage still visible around the square and so didn't notice as Steve opened is mouth, outraged at the blatant manipulation before snapping it shut with a hiss of pain as Natasha kicked him hard in the knee to shut him up. Steve's head snapped up to glare at her as he rubbed his knee under the table but stayed silent which Natasha counted as a victory.

 

She knew his silence would not last long but hopefully it would last long enough for her to get him somewhere quiet to explain. Steve was acting from a true desire to help, which she envied him a bit but she didn't think he had fully realized how messed up this situation was.

 

Either a SHIELD team had completely misunderstood their mission and ignored every mission directive SHIELD had in place for situations involving civilians or an elite SHIELD strike team had been infiltrated by another organization with their own agenda. If one of their most elite teams had been infiltrated then what was to say other parts of SHIELD hadn't been infiltrated. They had to find out what was going on, how deep the infiltration ran, how Hawkeye had managed to get all the information he had gotten, and what he might know about the people behind this attack. Lying to one little old woman was nothing if it meant fixing this FUBAR situation before it got any worse.

 

Steve's face was still pinched as Sarah turned back to them biting her lip with worry.

 

"Alright, I will take you up to their apartment but please," she pleaded looking at them directly "please help Matt and Clint. Clint is truely a good person and Matt is just the sweetest child."

 

Natasha ruthlessly suppressed a twinge of guilt as she easily promised the older woman that she would protect Hawkeye and his child, a promise she knew she had no way to keep and that she would ignore as soon as the promise conflicted with the mission goals. She might feel bad if she had to break her word but she would still do it to ensure that she and her team came out of this whole in the end, however, Steve looked at Sarah evenly before reiterating his promise from before with utter conviction and sincerity "I will do everything that I can to help them."

 

The promise was so simple, so easily bent or twisted to mean something else but Natasha could tell that all her beautiful, false words about keeping Clint and Matt safe had meant nothing to this old woman but that Steve's simple statement was everything. Natasha puzzled over the difference for half a second all of her words had been carefully chosen to lull the woman into trusting her, her delivery, timing, and expression had been perfectly coreograghed for maximum impact but they had meant nothing to this woman. Steve's honest promise had swayed her and Natasha wondered if that was because he was Captain America but decided it was just something about Steve, something that made you trust that he really did want to do what was right.

 

She considered feeling offended that all her carefully cultivated spy training was worth nothing in this situation but then dismissed the feeling as they followed Sarah into her apartment building and into the old elevator. Steve politely lowered the metal-grated elevator door into place as Sarah pushed the button to take them to the top floor.

 

"This is Clint and Matt's apartment," she said stopping by a door at the end of hall that was the same as every other door on the floor.

 

Sarah unlocked the door with a key from a keyring she had in a pocket.

 

"I often took care of the apartment while Clint was away," Sarah explained at Steve's questioning look.

 

"Did you also take care of Matt," Natasha asked casually as she examined the apartment in front of them.

 

"Only once. Clint usually took Matt with him," Sarah responded as Natasha continued to scan the room. Several windows allowed sunlight to flood into the room through gazy curtains illuminating the cozy room. The room was surprisingly free of clutter given the impression of Clint Sarah had given her and considering that a child lived here but she merely noted the unusual orderliness before catologing everything else in the apartment. A tall wooden table with tall chairs around it served to seperate the kitchen area from the rest of the living area while various pots and pans hung from a rack on the ceiling in the kitchen. Natasha immediately noticed the various knives tucked around the kitchen within easy reach should an unexpected attack come before moving to examine the living area. She lifted a mental eyebrow as she noted the bean bags scattered around a tv that had various game consoles connected to it. She spotted Call of Duty amoung the various games and briefly thought of Bucky and his love of that game.

 

Looking to Sarah for permission, who after a moments distraction gave her a nod, she went to glance in the three rooms leading off the main living area. The first was a bedroom with an attached bathroom, from the various posters on the walls and the purple walls themselves she surmised it must be Matt's bedroom but that idea was quickly refuted when she found a quiver of arrows tucked behind the headboard of the bed, in easy grabbing range, and a shaving kit in the bathroom. She glanced back into the bedroom from the bathroom allowing herself to lift a sceptical eyebrow at the room more suited to a teenage boy than a grown man. She was able to get to the next bedroom through a connecting door and found it to be neat and organized. The walls were bare and for a child's bedroom she found it surprisingly spartan. Given the state of Hawkeye's bedroom she had expected his son's room to be littered with posters and the lack struck her as unusual.

 

The duvet on the bed caught her eye and running a hand over it she blinked. The duvet was silk and obviously extremely expensive and flipping a corner over she looked at the tag sewed into the edge of the blanket surprised that the blanket was pure silk outside and all natural duck down inside. The label proclaimed that all materials were natural with no chemicals used to dye or wash the products at all. Natasha frowned before examining the sheets and even the bed itself and finding that the sheets were silk and that all of them were from all natural products.

 

Moving back to Hawkeye's bedroom she found that the man's bedclothes were made of similar material and as she looked more closely she realized that everything in the house was made of all natural materials that were undyed and untreated. Even the purple paint on the wall when she moved over to scratch at it yielded an herbal smell instead of the chemical smell of most paints.

 

She came back into the main room to find Steve talking quietly to Sarah as she gestured around the room. Natasha met Steve's eyes to see if she was needed but with a minute shake of his head he indicated that he would handle it. She trusted him to tell her about anything Sarah might have to say so quietly she moved to the third room finding a studio.

 

Briefly she mistook it for an art studio but then she saw the fletching on a table and looking closer realized that this must be where Hawkeye had made his arrows. Looking around the area she had to admit she was impressed. She knew from the intel that SHIELD had gathered and from her own experience that Hawkeyes' arrows were state of the art and everyone had thought he was buying his tech from someone else not creating his own arsenal. Tony would no doubt want to chat with him about how he had learned to make his various arrows.

 

Unfortunately despite a through search she was unable to find a laptop, phone, or even a shred of paper that might tell them where Hawkeye might be hiding. She moved out of the workroom to suggest that they go back down to the courtyard to find Steve alone in the outer room looking through the draws in the kitchen.

 

"Sarah went to call Cielo to ask him to take us to that warehouse," Steve stated as he looked up to meet her questioning gaze. "She also told me that someone had been here since the attack."

 

Natasha raised a questioning brow as she cocked her head and asked "Hawkeye."

 

He shook his head.

 

"Sarah doesn't think so. Says that whoever it was, took most of Clint's bows and a lot of Matt's stuff but that they missed some things of Matt's that Clint would have taken if he had been back."

 

"It could still have been Hawkeye if he were in a hurry or was limited to what he could take," Natasha said evenly as she moved to examine the papers Steve was looking over, a bunch of takeout menus from around Venice.

 

"Sarah doesn't think so since one of the items the person missed was Matt's blanket," Steve said quietly gesturing to one of the beanbags. "She said that Matt loved that blanket and that Clint wouldn't have left it."

 

"Most teenage boys don't really want a baby blanket. Hawkeye might have decided that it was unneeded," Natasha said a bit sceptically.

 

"Matt has sensory issues. This blanket is a pressure blanket that was specially made for Matt when he was six," Steve told her as he moved to pick up the blanket and as he did she realized that what she had mistaken for a simply blanket was actually weighted throughout its length and that it was more like a quilt with squares of different textures all around it. She frowned slightly. Unlike a regular quilt all the patches on this one were a uniform color and formed no real pattern that she could discern.

 

"These type of blankets can be pretty expensive and a specially made one like this probably cost a thousand dollars or more. I know Clint could afford it with the sort of money he was making but even so it will take weeks to have a replacement made. I think Clint would have taken the blanket if he had been back," Steve told her simply as he ran a gentle hand over the blanket.

 

"How do you know so much about these types of blankets," Natasha asked with a slight frown. Steve was obviously beginning to emphasize with Hawkeye too much. Steve blushed slightly as he admitted "I looked them up when Bucky was having such a hard time. They can help not only with sensory disorders but also PTSD suffers who are hyper aware. I actually have one special ordered for him but it is still a few weeks from being ready."

 

Natasha ignored the faint happy look Steve got when talking about Bucky as she told him "A sensory disorder would explain why his son's room was so spartan but had such expensive furniture."

 

Steve looked puzzled so she explained about the duvet, blankets, and furniture. She could see something click behind his eyes before he said "All the food in the refrigerator is organic and chemical free also. I haven't looked in all the cabinets but I did notice that the 'silverware' is all made of bamboo and that the pots are all copper. Seems like Clint is very interested in keeping any and all additives out of his son's food."

 

"And why do you think it is all for his son. He could just be a health nut," Natasha asked quietly as she examined the rest of the kitchen.

 

"I doubt Clint was doing it for himself. From what Sarah was saying Clint would eat anything but Matt was very picky," Steve said as he carefully folded the weighted blanket and set it by the door obviously intending to take it with them in order to give it back to its owner at a later date.

 

"Steve you need to stop this," Natasha said turning her full attention to Steve as he turned to frown at her.

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"You are getting far too emotionally invested in this mission. You're referring to the target by his first name, emphasizing with his son, and," Natasha started but was cut off by an angry swipe of Steve's hand through the air.

 

"Natasha, that target is a man who was attacked for no reason by a group of armed soldiers while enjoying a meal with his family and friends. That target not only had to defend his friends and family from said attack but when he surrendered to spare his loved ones the cowards attacking him went to slaughter a bunch of innocents. The target then had to watch his child get shot while defending others. That target is a decent human being who we should be helping not objectifying," Steve spoke with a combination rightous anger and empathy which had her straightening as he paced toward her to stare at her over the wooden table.

 

"I can see your point but we have much bigger problems on our hands," she told him starring into his angry blue eyes preparing to explain exactly how FUBAR this situation was but he interrupted her again.

 

"Do you think I don't understand exactly how bad this situation could be," Steve asked with a raised eyebrow. "We have not only a breach of security but at the least a whole strike team that has been compromised if not far more. We have no idea who was pulling the strings on this mission. We don't know what was so important about capturing Hawkeye that the ones behind this attack were willing to risk an incident of this size. Even if they had captured Hawkeye and he hadn't attacked SHIELD HQ this would have drawn a hell of a lot of attention. So either the group behind this thinks they could have covered it up or they don't think they have anything to fear from SHIELD because one they are more powerful than SHIELD or they have enough of SHIELD infiltrated that SHIELD won't be able to retaliate. Did I miss any points?"

 

The litany of facts has Natasha pulling back and looking him in the eye before shaking her head. She curses herself for having underestimated him. It was so easy to forget that the man in front of her had led several successful campaigns during WW2 and been known as one of the greatest tactical minds of the age when he was wearing his heart on his sleeve like he was now.

 

They are silent as Steve moved away from her back into the living area and Natasha appreciated the moment to regroup.

 

"You should go and examine the courtyard for any evidence that the police missed. I will wait for Sarah and pack up any belongings I think Clint or Matt might want," Steve said as he emptied a laundry basket on the floor and started placing things inside it.

 

"Why are you packing their things," Natasha asked cautiously honestly confused why Steve would be going to the trouble and that made her nervous, a situation that she couldn't understand was a situation that could go bad at any second. She trusted Steve, he was a good person who wouldn't hurt someone without reason, but that didn't stop the voice in the back of her head screaming at her to understand and adapt to any situation, the voice that promised pain if she failed.

 

"We have orders to bring in Hawkeye and we will," Steve said then turned to look over his shoulder at her earnestly "but our orders don't say we have to deliver him to SHIELD custody. We can hold him just as effectively at the tower and provide Matt with state of the art medical care plus Clint will be able to stay with his son at the Tower instead of being locked in a cell. So," and here he holds up what is obviously a child's sculpture "they will want at least some of their own things."

 

Natasha blinked and thought about arguing. Taking a known threat into the Tower could endanger all of them but she stopped the words before they had even formed on the tip of her tongue as she spotted a pair of children's tennis shoes sitting by the door. The counter was a cold, solid presence under her hand as she stared at the shoes remembering rows upon rows of similar childrens' shoes that had sat in cubbies in the Red Room dorms and how long some of those shoes would stay in the cubbies gathering dust before one of the minders remembered to remove them after their owner had been culled for failure to thrive in the program.

 

She cursed her wandering mind as she focused back on Steve, anger burning in her heart and ready to lash out at even the slightest hint of sympathy but the kind, understanding look in his eyes hit her harder than any physical blow. She stiffened before forcing her muscles loose once more. With a flippant shrug of her shoulders she walked to the door saying "You're team leader. On your head be it."

 

She knows, he knows that a simple pair of children's shoes had rattled her but she also knows that he is far too kind to call her on it. Escaping out of the apartment she gratefully turned her mind to the task of figuring out projectile trajectory and weapon type as she enters the courtyard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thanks again to everyone who commented, you are amazing.


	6. Introspection

And another chapter just because everyone needs some Tony and Bruce!

 

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"JARVIS, buddy have you found any more survellience footage from the area of the attacks," Tony asked as he sipped his third, no fourth, cup of coffee of the day. At this point after watching a group of highly trained killers setting up an ambush on unexpecting civilians from several different angles, an ambush which resulted in a child being shot point blank in the abdomen he really wanted a drink or several to help wipe the images from his mind. He hated soberity.

 

But if he couldn't drink himself into oblivion he could caffienate and hopefully find something to help them find out exactly who was responsible for this shit. After they found the assholes he could wipe the floor with them and maybe that would help him deal with the nightmares that he knew were going to haunt him. One survellience feed imparticular had really stuck with him. The feed had been from a small grocery across the street where the owner, based on his online purchases, was a closet techie.

 

The camera the guy had outside his shop gave crystal clear video which had shown the moment the kid had been shot in sickening detail. Tony rubbed a hand over his eyes as he saw once more the sick look of glee on the woman's face as the bullet had struck the boy and how the kid had spread his arms out to cover as much of the children behind him even as he had begun to collapse forward onto the ground, red already beginning to pool at his feet.

 

"Sir," JARVIS's voice called a hint of worry in his crisp tones and Tony realized that he must have been calling him for several minutes.

 

"Sorry, J, I must have fallen asleep sitting up again," Tony said loudly clapping his hands in fake excitement "How about we get to the rest of the videos?"

 

"I believe, sir, that we have been through all relivent videos of the intial attack. I have taken the liberty of compiling relevent clips of all surveillence video that showed the car chase and Hawkeye's arrival at the unknown healthcare facility. I ordered the videos so that they would show the progression of the chase in chronilogical order and added reference tags to areas that were of particular note. I also was able to find video feed which shows Mr. Barton and an unknown person moving the injured child into a van which appears to have been turned into an emergency vehicle. May I suggest that sir review that video to ensure that I made all relevant notes," JARVIS said with worry hidden under his smooth tones.

 

"J, didn't realize you were so manipulative," Tony snarked with a grin as he chugged down more of his coffee. He nervously licked his lips while tapping his fingers against the plastic of his laptop before nodding slightly to himself. He knew he must be a train wreck if JARVIS was running interference but the idea of violence against children had always hit him hard.

 

"Go ahead and bring up footage of them evac'ing the kid," Tony told him with a wave of his hand and immediately his laptop lit up with grainy security footage. The video lasted barely a minute but Tony watched it intently as he recognized Hawkeye walking quickly beside a traditional hospital gurney pushed by an older woman in scrubs as they moved to a van. Something twinged painfully in Tony's chest as he watched a thin arm lift minutely from the gurney and how Hawkeye caught the wavering hand in one of his own a look of such concern and love on his face that Tony actually did not know how to describe it. Moments later the video ended as Hawkeye still gripping the hand helped the woman load the gurney and moved to sit in the back of the van with the injured child. The tags on the back of the van as it drove away were clearly visible and absently Tony asked JARVIS to run the plates not really surprise when they turned up as registered to a vehicle that had been stolen.

 

Tony turned off the video and allowed himself to slowly spin in his chair as he gazed up at the ceiling. He kept replaying the last moments of the video in his head, seeing over and over the look on Hawkeye's face as he gripped that kid's hand. Tony abruptly realized that he had been rubbing his chest right over the arc reactor as he considered the video and forced himself to stop.

 

"Hey, J do we know how Hawkeye knew that kid. He seemed to really....," Tony broke off unsure how to word the feelings he had witnessed. He really had no frame of reference for the look the archer had turned on the child. Worry definately, fear for the boy's life sure, but also such fierce love and pride that Tony still felt his heart twinge painfully everytime he thought about it.

 

"I have been monitoring Captain Rogers and Agent Romanov's comms since they set out from base. According to Hawkeye's landlady the boy was Hawkeye's son, Matthew," JARVIS replied softly. Tony nodded pieces clicking into place. 'That look had been the look a father who really loved their son wore when they had been hurt, no wonder he didn't recognize it,' he thought absently.

 

"Well no wonder he went after SHIELD," Tony mused quietly as he stood up and left the room.

 

"JARVIS, save the video feeds we have compiled and save backup copies to the secure servers. Send copies of all surveillence footage to a SHIELD secure server and erase all other footage of the incident," Tony ordered absently as he limped down to the cafeteria where he picked up two cups of coffee.

 

The trip down to the survellience rooms was uneventful and Tony slipped into the room where Bruce was without his usual fanfare.

 

"Coffee," Tony said simply as he held one of the cups under Bruce's nose. A small smile curled the edges of Bruce's mouth as he leaned back enough to take the cup from Tony.

 

"Thanks," Bruce said quietly as he took off the headphones he had been using to listen into the mission. The chair sighed as Bruce sat back and studied Tony over the top of his coffee cup.

 

"I take it the surveillence video is pretty bad," Bruce murmured his eyes world weary.

 

"Only if you count seeing a kid being shot point blank and having to watch his father lose his shit pretty bad," Tony said trying for flippant but too tired to pull it off. Silence settled back in the room except for the occasional muffled sounds from Bruce's headphones.

 

"Should I watch the video," Bruce asked obviously not wanting to but willing to do what was necessary to help the team.

 

Tony took another sip of his coffee as he contemplated the computer setup of the surveillence room before answering quietly "No, no you really shouldn't."

 

Bruce glanced at him sadly, seeming to understand what he wasn't saying, but thankfully didn't offer any meaningless platitudes. They set in silence for the rest of the day while Bruce continued making notes based on what he heard on the comms and Tony designed a new suit prototype on his tablet and if both of them were wondering what it would have been like to have had a father who cared about them half as much as Hawkeye cared for his son neither of them mentioned it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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	7. Unpleasant News and a Surprising Understanding

Hope you Enjoy!

 

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Phil frowned thoughtfully as he continued to listen to the comms, his eyes cut to Bucky who was frowning darkly in the corner of the van his eyes closed off and guarded. The man had been keeping himself together pretty well but had started to retreat into the emotionaless mask of the Winter Soldier once they had heard Steve being told about the child being shot. Phil could tell Bucky was wondering if he had traded one bad group for another by the way his breathing was slightly elevated and the way he kept clenching and unclenching his jaw but at the same time his eyes kept wandering to the bag containing Steve's shield meaning that he didn't feel that he could leave unless Steve came with him.

 

"Bucky," Phil said calmly after ten minutes of the shifting silence and immediately Bucky's eyes were on him. Phil met him stare for stare taking in the too wide pupils of his eyes and the way fine tremors were running along his frame but waited to say anything until he was absolutely sure that he had Bucky's attention.

 

"Bucky, I swear to you that none of this was authorized by SHIELD. We do not condone the attempted murder of children nor the slaughter of civilians," Phil told him firmly his conviction firm as he added "If I thought for even a second that SHIELD had authorized this I would tear them apart myself."

 

Bucky continued to stare at him for several more minutes before the fine tremors wracking his frame eased and he nodded to Phil. Phil didn't fool himself into thinking everything was alright now but he did hope that he had convinced Bucky that he could be trusted at least a little.

 

Pulling out his phone he quickly dialed Director Fury's number, the man needed to know that Barton's attack was provoked and they needed to find out who had had access to the mission besides the strike team. They needed to find out how far this corruption went so they could stop it in its tracks and the best way to do that was to interrogate the last remaining member of the strike team, Rumlow.

 

"Please tell me you have something," Fury snapped in lue of a greeting as he answered his phone on the second ring.

 

"Nothing you are going to like, sir," Coulson answered grimly and waited as Fury cursed quietly on the other end of the line. Coulson could guess from the frustration in Fury's voice that the WSC had found out about the attack and been hounding Fury to put an end to the threat.

 

"Out with it, Cheese," Fury growled finally and Phil knew it must be bad if he was resorting to the comfort of their old call signs.

 

"We believe that Barton attacked due to an attack launched by the strike team. The team located Barton almost 58 hours ago while he was attending a civilian party at his apartment complex where they proceeded to ambush Barton and during the ambush they killed three civilians and injured several more. The death toll likely would have been much higher except Barton defended and got most of the civilians to safety. While he was evacuating the civilians Barton's son, Matthew, was shot point blank by SHIELD Agent Alice Gortin when he attempted to protect a group of children from her. We have yet to learn if Matthew Barton survived his injuries, sir," Phil summerized quickly keeping his tone even and professional with an effort.

 

There is silence on the other end of the line then Fury snapped "I want a preliminary report of everything you have on my desk ten minutes ago. I will call you back after I have sorted this out."

 

The connection cut off and Phil sighed before bringing up the report he had been working on while listening to Steve and Natasha as they interviewed Mrs. Memilli. After making a few changes he quickly sent the rough draft to Fury over a secure connection.

 

"As soon as Steve and Natasha have finished examining the scene we will head to where Barton took Matthew to see what we can find there," Phil told Bucky, determined to keep the man in the loop, and was about to ask the man if he would like to search the scene with them when his phone buzzed. Phil glanced down at the caller id and resisted the urge to frown in confusion as he saw that it was the Director calling him not five minutes after their first call.

 

"Coulson," he answered simply while meeting Bucky's evaluating eyes, obviously the man had caught his pause in answering his phone.

 

"Call back the team, Coulson, now. Rumlow has escaped from medical and we don't know where he is," Fury ordered and Phil felt a shot of adrenalin shoot through him.

 

"Do we know who helped him," Phil asked.

 

"No," Fury growled and Phil read a wealth of information in that one word. Fury would have immediately pulled the video feeds from the medical wing so if he couldn't identify Rumlow's accomplices then they were outside infiltrators or the video feeds had been tampered with. All SHIELD video feeds were controlled from in house only and would require Stark's level of hacking skill to reach or a person on the inside to help with the wipe. No matter how it had gone down this was turning into a major problem, one that could endanger their best team if they didn't get them to safety fast.

 

"Understood," Phil said simply then hung up without a word of farewell.

 

Immediately, Phil activated the comms saying clearly "That is enough for today. We should break for lunch at that Sicilian place Stark recommended."

 

Silence reined over the comms as everyone took in the code they had worked out for situations such as this. The first part allowed the team to know that something major was wrong and that they needed to abandon the op immediately while him saying they needed to 'break for' meant they needed to cut any information going over the comms. On the quinjet they had worked out that if he were ever to tell them they were going out to lunch they would be evac'ing and the Sicilian place refered to the quinjet. Telling them that Stark had recommended the place was for Banner to tell him to get the billionaire and head for the safety of the quinjet.

 

"Tony and I can head that way now. I know he was looking forward to the pasta," Bruce said and Phil translated the statement in his head easily to Tony and Bruce were together and going forward with the evac plan.

 

There was a moment of silence from Steve and Natasha's end before Steve said cautiously which carried over to make his delivery wooden and halting "I was really hoping to find out more about the pizza place we heard about."

 

Phil translated the sentence to Steve wanted to stay and finish the investigation. He mentally sighed to himself. He would be the first to admit that he still had a big case of hero worship for Steve but even he had to admit that the man couldn't act. Anyone listening into their comms would hear the stilted way that Steve spoke and know that he was trying to convey a message. From the way Bucky was grimacing he also agreed that Steve was never going to be a master of undercover work.

 

"The pizza place is well off the beaten path and we can always visit it when we are back in Italy but the Sicilian place is only open during certain meal times. Besides I have heard that the person responsible for the pizza place is the reason for the Sicilian resturant," Phil said easily as he moved passed Bucky to climb into the drivers seat and start the car. A quickly cut off gasp confirmed for him that Steve had understood at least the part about something to do with Rumlow was why they were retreating but whether he understood that Phil was reassuring him that the witnesses would be alright was still in the air.

 

"I guess we will head over then," Steve finally said over the comms reluctance still in his voice.

 

Phil pulled the van up in front of Hawkeye's apartment building to find Steve looking earnestly at a woman in her late seventies who was patting his hand fondly as she thanked him for all he was doing.

 

"I promise, ma'am, I will do everything I can to keep them safe for you," Steve told the woman in farewell and Phil waited patiently as first Natasha then Steve, carrying a laundry basket of stuff, got in the back of the van.

 

"What is going on, Phil," Steve asked immediately as they pulled away into traffic. The man gazed at him obviously unhappy to be leaving but clearly trusting Phil to make the decision and Phil felt his heart beat faster at the idea that Steve trusted him so completely. The more clinical part of his mind reminded him that this was the man who had just promised to defend a man he had only seen once while said man was trying to kill him just because the man had been avenging his son. He had also taken in a brain washed Hydra assassin who had been sent to kill him and even if Bucky had been his best friend that had still been extremely naive.

 

'But he was right with Bucky,' another part of him whispered, the part that he had always liked to believe made him a better agent and a better person and it was that part which had him explaining soflty "I just received word that Rumlow has escaped from medical but we are unsure who helped him. Until we know how far the corruption goes we need to get the Avengers back to the Tower."

 

"Why not take us back to SHIELD's New York office. We can help find out who did this," Steve asked his desire to help fight who ever was responsible for this injustice clear.

 

"We cannot guarentee the Avengers safety at any SHIELD facility until we know exactly how far this corruption goes," Phil answered simply the admission burning like gall. Phil had given his life to the principals that SHIELD represented and to learn that some agency was using SHIELD to further its own agenda made him feel violated. Steve pulled back at his admission studing him before finally saying softly "We will find out what happened and we will make it right, Phil."

 

Phil glanced at Steve out of the corner of his eye taking in his determination then swept his eyes around to the others. Bucky looked toward Steve then turned back to him nodding solemnly while Natasha met his stare firmly her decision to fight evident and all at once Phil felt something inside him unwind. SHIELD might be compromised but he couldn't imagine having better people beside him to help him set it to rights.

 

 

 

 

"It took you long enough," Tony groused from the door of the quinjet as they exited the van. The man might have sounded put out but Bucky could see the way that his eyes looked them over for injuries before his stance relaxed at finding them unharmed.

 

Tony seemed to not expect an answer for as soon as they were all on board the quinjet he was shutting the bay doors and ushering them all impatiently to their seats. Natasha gave him a side long stare but apparently decided to humor the billionaire as she simply moved to the controls and readied them for take off, Agent Gladstock was being left to take a later transport.

 

"So what is going on? Why are we evac'ing so suddenly," Tony asked while he distractedly tried to belt himself in for take off. Thankfully Bruce took pity on him after the fourth time he tried to fit the buckle in place and missed because he was only half paying attention to what he was doing and buckled the man in from his seat beside him. For his part Tony didn't seem to really notice Bruce's actions as he continued to look around at all of them while he waited for the answers to his questions. Bucky wondered how long it had been since Tony had slept. If Bucky remembered correctly Tony had come directly from his lab in the Tower to the meeting with SHIELD and had been sequestered in the lab for at least twenty hours before that so likely the man was closing in on 48 hours without sleep. The lack of sleep would explain why Tony was so maniac and distracted. Bucky gave him an hour tops before exhaustion and his injuries forced Tony to sleep.

 

"I received word that Rumlow has escaped from SHIELD medical and that we don't have any idea who helped him escape," Coulson said calmly as he was strapping himself in. Coulson's eyes snapped with determination as he relayed this news and Bucky could tell that the man intended to route out every last person who was involved in this corruption.

 

"Video feeds," Tony asked suddenly all business his Starkpad already out as he was speaking.

 

"Deleted," Coulson told him briefly as Natasha smoothly got the quinjet airbourne and headed back for New York.

 

"Did they take the hard drive that the data had been on," Tony asked in a preoccupied manner then added before Coulson could even speak "Never mind, JARVIS says that none of the SHIELD hard drives have been removed. I should be able to recontruct most of the video feed in a moment with the residual electrical impressions left from the wipe. An hour tops."

 

"I know I should really ask you why JARVIS is so far in SHIELD systems that he would know when a hard drive has been removed but at this point I think I will just let you have your head," Coulson murmured with a put upon sigh but Bucky noticed the fond, barely there curl of the man's mouth as he glanced at the genius.

 

"Probably for the best, Agent Agent," said genius muttered distracted as he pulled a second Starkpad from his bag before proceeding to switch his attention between the two simultanously.

 

Bucky turned to share a confused look with Steve. He understood more about technology than Steve did but even he didn't know what in the world Tony was doing. Bruce might have understood it, even if his main focus was the biological sciences, the man was still a genius who was more than capable of keeping up with Tony on a tear, but honestly it was a fifty/fifty chance that if Bruce understood that he would be able to explain it in words the rest of them would understand so Bucky decided to simply remain in ignorance for now.

 

For the next hour the rest of them discussed what Steve and Natasha had discovered while they were searching Barton's apartment. Bucky's chest twinged painfully when he noted the blanket sticking out of the clothes hamper Steve had brought, reminding him that the eleven year old owner of the blanket might not even be alive at this moment.

 

"Got it," Stark crowed breaking Bucky out of his maudlin thoughts. Tony faced them with a board grin and a flourish before transfering the file he had retrieved to the ship's computer where Coulson was able to bring it up on the large monitor embedded in one part of the bulk head. They all turned to watch the video. At first all that was shown was an empty corridor outside a hospital room before a group of people came out with a gurney that they could see contained Rumlow.

 

Bucky felt his pulse race and couldn't name why his fingers were suddenly tingling and his skin felt too tight then one of the people surrounding the gurney looked up allowing the camera to capture her face........

 

and then he was standing with his back pressed against the bulk head at military attention while panic sang through his body and his mind screamed.

 

'The chair, the chair. I can't. I. I can't. I just got myself back, they will take it away,' his mind screamed so loudly but his muscles refused to move from attention. He needed to run but his body refused and they were coming for him. His vision had tunneled with his panic but he could still see the shapes coming to strap him into the chair and he couldn't but his training demanded he not fight.

 

'I can't,' he screamed internally.

 

'Please not again. I can't loose Steve again,' his mind screamed at the approaching shadows and abruptly it was like his muscles unlocked at the idea that they would take Steve. Steve was his! He protected him and they would change that which could not be allowed.

 

The shadow closest to him went down with a well aimed kick to the chest (not dead his inner voice noted even as it also noted how solid the man's chest had been) just as the second shadow lunged at him. Bucky ducked out of the shadow's way but not fast enough and with an enraged scream he tried to buck the person off of him. The person held on fiercely while whispering softly in his ear, whispers that didn't stop even as Bucky punched the person hard in the stomach. The person's soft, pained gasp made Bucky tremble in sympathy but he couldn't let them strap him in could he? The person's arms were warm and his smell so familiar and then Bucky froze realizing that the man smelt like Stevie.

 

"Bucky, it is ok. I swear you are safe. I won't allow them to get you," Steve whispered desperately in his ear and Bucky sagged in despair as he realized that he had hit Steve.

 

Steve let them sink down onto the floor as Bucky's knees gave out from under him and slowly the confines of the quinjet swam back into focus.

 

"Natasha, we won't be needing the tranquilizers," Coulson said calmly but with a firm look at Natasha who was alternately watching him and Bruce as though wondering who to sedate first while still keeping the quinjet in the air. For his part Bruce was gently helping Tony up from where he was resting on his back with his shattered brief case lying beside him and Bucky noted with relief that Tony had thought to put the armor on before confronting him.

 

"Damn, Robocop, you have a mean kick. So glad I put on the armor before trying to talk you down," the man gasped as he massaged the armor over his chest.

 

"I kicked you," Bucky asked horrified. He knew what his kicks could do to unaltered humans, Hydra had made him cave in a man's chest while his family watched for one of his assignments and he still heard the man's children screaming as the man had collapsed coughing up blood.

 

"Chill, Terminator, you just broke my brief case," Tony told him with a shaky grin as he held up the shattered metal case. He could tell that the man was shaken but was trying to reassure him despite the obvious injuries he had just given him.

 

Turning his head he realized Steve was still hugging him tightly. As gently as he could Bucky moved his flesh hand, never the metal weapon that Hydra had made his left arm into, to touch Steve's stomach. Steve tried to hide his gasp of pain from Bucky as his hand ghosted over the area he remembered having struck his phantom attacker but Bucky noted it and realized with a sinking feeling that he had hit not only Tony but Steve during his flash back.

 

"I'm sorry," Bucky gasped clutching at his own head as he rocked in place. Strong hands gently pried his hands away from his head where he had been pulling hard at his hair and Steve gently rested his cheek against Bucky's head as he held his hands between them.

 

"Bucky, it is ok. It isn't your fault. We know not to approach you during a flash back. Remember what the therapist said. Try to breathe and list where you are and who you are with," Steve told him gently as he absently started to massage his flesh hand with one of his own.

 

Bucky stayed rigid his back bowed away from Steve's warmth as though he could keep himself away from him and therefore keep from hurting him again. Steve's words made little sense to his clouded mind, all he knew was that he needed to get away, stay away so that he didn't hurt Steve again but gradually Steve's voice broke through his paniced thoughts.

 

"Bucky, do you remember where you are," Steve asked desperation clear in his voice and Bucky focused on his tear streaked face hating that tone in Steve's voice.

 

"Bucky, please," Steve begged and that was wrong, Steve should never beg. Bucky tried to think back on what Steve needed and remembered the question. Where was he? He was where the Chair was, they were going to strap him in, Steve was......no, Steve was never around the Chair, Steve couldn't be around the Chair, they would hurt him.....but Steve was here and he said everything was fine, Steve didn't lie, and....and the others, Tony....kicked him but smiled and said it was fine.....

 

"Bucky, do you know where you are," Steve asked again tears in his voice and running down his face as he cupped Bucky's face in his large hands. Steve didn't try to turn his face, Bucky's muscles were too rigid to respond to anything but brute force at the moment and Steve wouldn't hurt him, but he did smooth his thumb over his cheek soothingly.

 

Bucky knew he needed to answer, his answer was important to Steve, but the muscles in his chest and jaw refused to unclench. He whined as he tried to force his voice out through clenched teeth and faintly he realized he was trembling with his fists clenched tightly beside him.

 

'I have to answer. Steve asked a question. He NEEDS the answer,' Bucky thought desperately the trembling shaking his frame repeatedly but through it all Steve never dropped his hands, they continued to cradle Bucky's head gently and stroke soothingly over his too tight muscles.

 

"Q.....quin....quinjet," Bucky finally managed to force out through his aching jaws.

 

"Yeah, we are on the quinjet," Steve told him a sigh of relief in his voice.

 

"Chair," Bucky forced out the question and saw Steve stiffen again as anger and sorrow flooded his face. Bucky cursed himself for putting that look back on Stevie's face but....he had been sure the Chair was here?

 

"No, Bucky, we destroyed that ..... that thing," Steve spat the word out with such revulsion that Bucky blinked surprised at his normally mild mannered friend and Steve seeing his surprise continued in a gentler voice "We destroyed it when we rescued you from Hydra. I will never let that thing near you again."

 

Bucky blinked his muscles still tense and trembling as tried to process what had happened. He could have sworn that the Chair had been here but Steve said it hadn't and Steve would never lie to him so the Chair wasn't here but then why?

 

Examining his memories he remembered that they had been leaving Venice and Tony had been trying to retreive the surveillence video so they could figure out who Rumlow's accomplices were. Tony had been really happy that he had been able to retrieve the video and then they were watching the video and then.....then....

 

Bucky's eyes widened in realization as he remembered the familiar face becoming clear on the video and he leaned forward to bury himself in Steve's warm embrace as he remembered the dispassionate face looking at him as the person turned the Chair on and listened to his screams.

 

"Buck," Steve said soothingly as he hugged him tightly seemly trying to curl around his shivering frame as though to shield him from the world.

 

"Steve, that woman......that woman," Bucky whispered quietly into Steve's neck having to pause to swallow hard around his painfully dry throat "Steve, she was one of the techs....in....in the Chair room."

 

Steve froze under his hands and Bucky had a split second of panic that Steve was about to leave him before the man was pulling him into his arms in a hug that would have crushed the bones of anyone else but felt like just enough for Bucky. They clutched desperately at each other as Bucky heard Steve growl in rage to someone "It is Hydra. Bucky recognized that woman in the video as one of the techs who hurt him. I want to know who she is and who those others are. They will pay for this."

 

"We will find them, I promise you Steve we will find them and root out any others that might be behind this," Coulson's deep soothing voice spoke beside them but Bucky ignored the man in favor of curling up tighter against Steve.

 

 

 

 

Coulson felt pinned by the rightous fury in Steve Roger's blue eyes and a part of him wanted to cringe that the organization he had spent most of his adult life serving had been infiltrated by Hydra but he held his ground. Cringing away from the situation would help no one but he could make this better by doing what he did best as a handler; consider the situation and come up with the best plan of attack.

 

Meeting Natasha's eyes he motioned for her to continue on course while he made his way to the back room of the plane. He knew Natasha was still nervous around Bruce and Bucky, the latter more because of what he reminded her of than what he was capable of, but he also knew he could trust her to handle almost any situation that came up and get him if he were needed.

 

He paused beside where Bruce was kneeling beside a sitting Tony and trying to talk the stubborn man into taking off the armor.

 

"Tony," he asked as he knelt down to look closer at the man noting the pale cast to his skin and the dilation of his eyes. The man looked up at him with a mulish expression and Phil switched tacts easily.

 

"Bruce, what is the situation," he asked calmly as the scientist kept glaring at Tony.

 

"I need to make sure that Tony doesn't have any impact fractures in his sternum or any subcutanous bleeding but he won't take off the armor," Bruce told him obviously frustrated with Tony if the pointed glares aimed at him were any indication.

 

"And I told him I am fine. The armor can take the hit," Tony broke in glaring right back at Bruce unperturbed that if the man actually got angry that the billionaire could end up as a smear on the bulkhead.

 

"Tony," Phil spoke firmly then kept silent as he waited for Tony to turn fully to him. He had learned early that when dealing with Tony silence could work like nothing else to fluster the man. He had seen the man smirk in amusement as people were shouting and hurling insults at him but meet the man with silence and he was fidgeting within moments, Phil didn't like to think what that said about Tony's past.

 

"What," the man finally snapped defensive after barely a minute of silence and Phil wasn't cruel enough to let the man fret anymore.

 

"Why do you not want to take off the armor," Phil asked calmly as he studied the man as he tapped the fingers of his gauntlet on his metal thigh.

 

Finally the man sighed heavily before admitting "If I take the armor off I won't be able to get it back on. The control mechanism for the remote assembly was in the case which is....," he gestured at the clearly destroyed case "yeah.....so I need to keep it on till we get back to New York in case anything happens but no worries," the man added with a showman's smile "this suit is all purpose. Can go to the bathroom and everything in it."

 

The man's expression wilted a bit as Phil looked the man over calmly and Phil quickly surpressed the sympathy thrumming through his system, he knew what it was like not to want to be left defenseless.

 

"And besides if I take off the suit I will be no good in a fight. Best not to sideline one of our best fighters for no reason," Tony added hurriedly as though his only worth to the team was the suit and that was all they cared about.

 

Phil looked at the man's defiant expression then gently clapped him on his armored shoulder, ordering gently "Tony, take off the suit. Let Bruce examine you and make sure you are alright. Trust us to keep you safe while you can't get to the armor. We won't let anything happen to you."

 

Tony opened his mouth as though to reply but Phil could tell he was too surprised and confused by the concern for his well-being to say anything.

 

Phil smoothly got back to his feet while descretely flicking his pant legs back into place before starting for the back of the plane again but just before he was about to close the door into the back room he pinned Tony with a hard look "And Tony if you ever avoid medical care again for such a stupid reason I will have you side-lined for a week. We need you far more than we need Ironman."

 

He was satisfied when he saw Tony's eyes widen in surprise at being needed for something other than the suit before he nodded tentatively back at him. Silently he shut the door to the back room and pulled out his cell phone. Hitting speed dial he didn't even blink when a brusque voice barked over the line "What?"

 

"Hydra, has infiltrated SHIELD. Sgt. Barnes positively identified a SHIELD employee that helped Rumlow escape. Stark and Banner are working on ID'ing the others in the video. The IDs and the video will be sent to you within the hour to the secure network," Coulson reported calmly. A moment of silence was his only answer before Fury said calmly but with an undercurrent to his voice that had Coulson straightening a fraction more as he started mentally preparing himself for a fight "Bring the whole team to D.C.. I will meet you there."

 

"And Cheese, if anything happens to me before I get to talk to you go to the cabin in the Ozarks," Fury added in lue of a good-bye before hanging up. Phil allowed himself a small frown down at the phone in his hand before he pocketed the thing again. The cabin in the Ozarks was a code that told him that Fury thought they might be being watched and that anything he knew about the situation was stashed in the safe area they had preplanned for years ago. Phil sparred a thought to wonder how bad this was actually going to get if Fury thought that Hydra had a strong enough position to attack the head of SHIELD directly but quickly filed the thought away as he moved back into the main part of the plane.

 

He had to fill Natasha in on their change in course and prepare the team for the fight to come.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Ouch, damn it Bruce. Don't poke so hard," Tony groused wincing as Bruce gently felt around Tony's chest for fractures. Bruce struggled not to roll his eyes as he set back enough to fix his friend with an exasperated expression. Really the man could almost die and be as stoic as you please about it but give him a bit of bruising and he would whine about it for days.

 

"As far as I can tell you don't have any fractures but we should do an x-ray once we are back at the tower just to be sure," Bruce told him allowing a small, fond smile to flit across his face as Tony waved a limp hand at him in a clear dismissive gesture. For years he had conditioned himself to expect fear and revulsion when people found out about the other guy and to have someone's attitude be so completely different to what he was expecting still threw him but he had to admit it was nice. In fact the whole team's attitude toward him was surprisingly accepting. Steve from the start had treated him like anyone else he was meeting for the first time and while he had scolded Tony for deliberately provoking him in the lab it hadn't been because of fear but out of respect for the power the other guy represented. Bruce had also realized later that Steve had also disapproved of Tony's manners and attitude in general. That disapproval had thankfully not survived long once Steve actually began to get to know Tony. Steve still rebuked Tony when he did something particularly outrageous but his tone now was more of the fond, exasperation that an older sibling held for a younger sibling than the disapproval of a superior officer and accordingly Tony had responded better to Steve's rebukes. Tony had more issues with authority than anyone else he knew.

 

Bucky had been completely wary of him but he had been wary of everyone at first and the other guy had seemed to have nothing to do with it. Bruce thought that if he had had to go through what Bucky had been through he likely would never have trusted anyone again. Things had thankfully improved over the last several months until Bucky could be around the majority of the team without tensing up for a fight. He had even started leaving coffee thermoes in the stairwell outside Tony's lab when the man was running low, though how Bucky knew when the man was running low Bruce never knew, and Tony had seemed touched by the gesture given Bucky's fear of coming any where near the lab after his first disasterous visit.

 

For his part, Bruce had quickly learned not to wear his lab coat outside the labs after it triggered a flashback for Bucky that had had him almost catatonic for hours and that even Steve had been unable to bring him back from. Bucky had seemed hesitant around him after that but had gradually warmed up to him until he was treating Bruce much like Tony but instead of coffee Bucky was leaving vegetarian dishes and tea outside his lab door and having JARVIS inform him of their presence. The two of them had even made it a habit of eating together outside his lab and Bruce had been happy to find out that Bucky loved curry, something which the other man had been surprised about.

 

Bruce knew that Natasha was still wary of him and what the other guy could do but despite her anxiety she had gone out of her way to interact with him and the rest of the team. As for Coulson Bruce was fairly sure that nothing rattled the man but more than that Bruce could honestly say that he trusted Phil and even counted him as a friend. The man had a wicked, sarcastic sense of humor which had left him suppressing laughter more than once in the past year.

 

And Tony was just Tony. From the beginning, Tony had never acted any differently around him than he did around anyone else and that had meant a lot to him. It helped that he could understand Tony and his mannerisms. While he might not be as oblivious to social cues as Tony it didn't mean that he still didn't wonder at some of the strange things people did that were considered 'normal.'

 

Bruce's eyes crossed as he tried to focus on the tablet that had been abruptly shoved under his nose. He considered the device for a moment before following the hand holding it to see Tony typing one handed on his own tablet while still sitting on the floor.

 

"Is there a reason you are trying to shove that tablet up my nose," Bruce asked patiently.

Tony glanced away from his tablet to look at him with a slight puzzled frown on his face before he glanced at the tablet then at him as though to ask why he hadn't taken the tablet already. Bruce rolled his eyes before snatching the tablet from the man.

 

"Need your help going over these files. JARVIS is running a facial recognition software trying to match the faces of the people on the video with pictures from SHIELD's employee files but I set the search filter low with an 80% match requirement to make sure we didn't miss any of these bastards so we will have to be going through some files by hand. So I need your help," Tony explained gesturing at Bruce's tablet.

 

Bruce nodded his face turning down in a frown as he was reminded once more exactly why they were here. Anger burned low and deep in his chest at the idea of what these people had done to Bucky and helped do to an innocent child. The other guy shifted in the back of his mind and carefully he placed the tablet down on the floor as he took a calming breathe. Tony glanced at him but seemed unconcerned as Bruce calmed himself even though he would likely be the first to feel the other guy's rage if Bruce lost control. Steve just gave him an understanding nod as he continued to comfort Bucky and somehow Steve's and Tony's acceptance helped him to regain his balance.

 

Calmer he picked up the tablet once more but before he could start in on the first file Phil was back in the room and moving to stand beside Natasha.

 

"We are going to need to divert our flight to Washington D.C. Avoid the Washington SHIELD landing strip," Phil told Natasha who glanced at him out of the side of her eye but other than that just nodded wordlessly as her hands danced over the controls.

 

"Phil, why the abrupt detour," Steve asked with a worried frown.

 

"I am unsure but the Director felt that the Avengers might be neccesary in Washington once he heard about who helped Rumlow escape and who those people were working for," Phil answered with a grim set to his mouth then turned to face Tony "Tony, would it be possible for us to store the quinjet in your private hanger?"

 

"Of course," Tony agreed easily adding "Everyone can stay at the mansion in Washington. It is within ten miles of SHIELD HQ so we can be their quickly if we are needed."  


"Thank you," Phil said humor in his eyes as Tony waved away his gratitude with a distracted air, eyes never leaving his tablet.

 

Phil's expression sobered, however, as he took in how Bucky was still sitting pressed against Steve with Steve holding him in a fierce embrace. Bruce watched out of the corner of his eye as Phil moved quietly to sit against the wall near the two supersoldiers but far enough away to not make Bucky tense. Steve glanced up to share a speaking look with Phil before turning his attention back to Bucky as he stroked the man's long hair out of his face.

 

"Buck, Phil needs to talk to you. Do you feel well enough or do you want to wait a while," Steve asked quietly then waited patiently as Bucky remained curled against Steve's chest unmoving. Finally after long minutes of silence where Bruce managed to flick through several SHIELD personnal folders Bucky pulled back from Steve's embrace and turned to face Phil who had remained sitting patiently beside the other two men. Bruce noted how Bucky kept his side pressed against Steve as though seeking comfort and cursed Hydra again. A dark rumble in the back of his head answered his anger and for a moment he felt the Other Guy looking out of his eyes at the other Avengers. Bruce started to jerk him back but stopped abruptly as he felt an emotion he had never felt from the Other Guy before: protectiveness. The air rushed out of Bruce's mouth in surprise and the Other Guy took his moment of distraction to turn their attention to the photo still up on Bruce's tablet which he had been using to compare Rumlow's accomplices to the SHIELD personnal photos that might have been a match for the people they were hunting.

 

The protective feeling vanished to be replaced by a wave of anger and dark thoughts of blood but instead of shutting the Other Guy away as he usually would Bruce allowed his eyes to stay trained on the photo as the Other Guy memorized each of the Hydra agents faces, especially the face of the woman who had personally tortured Bucky.

 

'Them....They deserve our rage,' Bruce thought darkly as he kept staring hard at the picture on the tablet and he actually felt the Other Guy turning his surprised focus on him. Blinking Bruce realized that this was the first time he had ever tried to communicate with the Other Guy except for trying to keep him from coming forth. They regarded each other silently before the Other Guy seemed to turn away from him with a snort and move off willingly into the back of Bruce's mind but Bruce could have sworn that he felt a hint of amusement and maybe even fondness from his retreating presence.

 

He took a deep breath in before becoming aware of the silence around him. Tony met his eyes with a quirked eyebrow and a hint of a smile playing around his mouth as Bruce finally looked up from the tablet sheepishly.

 

Steve merely gave him a quizical look from where he was rubbing gentle circles with his thumb into Bucky's flesh hand but he didn't seem overly alarmed while Bucky just pressed further into Steve's side unconcerned with any of the rest of them. Glancing back at him Natasha gave him a brief nod but Bruce could see the way she gripped the flight controls so hard that her knuckles had turned white and with a feeling of guilt he realized he had scared her again. He absolutely hated that his mere presence set her on edge but he really couldn't figure out how to set her at ease besides leaving all together. He gave her a tight smile back as a way of apology but he could tell it did little to put her at ease.

 

Turning his attention to Coulson he was struck by just how unruffled the other man was as he continued to type on his phone. The man looked like he had not even noticed that the Hulk had been so close to the surface and maybe it was that demeanor that made it so jarring to him when Coulson asked him calmly as though talking about the weather "That was new. You have never seemed to communicate with the Hulk like that."

 

Bruce startled slightly at the man's comment staring at the agent before smiling ruefully, he was uncertain why he was surprised at the man's preceptiveness.

 

"We are rarely in agreement," Bruce told him with a shrug then added darkly, a hint of a growl coming unbidden into his voice "But we both agree these people deserve to pay for what they have done."

 

Phil glanced up briefly from his phone to study him then a smile stretched his lips in a way that was more a baring of teeth than a true smile.

 

"Agreed," Phil said simply before he turned his attention back to his phone. Bruce turned back to his tablet but his attention was caught by Natasha who stared hard at him before she seemed to relax, a small smile playing at the edge of her lips as she nodded slightly to him. The exchange was brief but Bruce couldn't help but feel that they maybe understood each other better now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sorry, this chapter is such a big one but I am starting a new job and unsure when the next chapter will be.


	8. The Chase

Everyone I am so sorry this has taken so long to get up. My new job is going great but is keeping me super busy. I hope you enjoy.

 

 

* * *

 

Phil left the others to settle into Tony's D.C. mansion in order to make his way to SHIELD's D.C. headquarters. The building was busy as usual as he walked briskly through the hallways to the directors office but Phil could not help the way he watched the agents around him with a little more caution, wondering which agents might be compromised.

 

"Enter," Nick called immediately as he knocked on his office door and Phil slipped inside careful to shut and lock the door behind him.

 

Nick held up a finger to forestall anything he might say and flipped on a small, square device resting on the edge of his desk. The device flashed a red light several times before settling to a steady green light.

 

"Alright we should be ok to talk now," Nick told him but a flick of his eyes warned Phil to still be cautious.

 

Phil lifted an eyebrow in question then indicated the area around him with a sweep of his eyes. Nick nodded having understood that Phil was wondering why the call to the D.C. area and Phil was grateful that the two of them had worked together so long that they could read each other so well.

 

"Remember a few years ago when you told me that a certain project was a bad idea. Well I was over ruled," Nick told him calmly and Phil blinked in confusion then almost cursed outloud as he realized what project Nick was talking about.

 

"I remember a lot of projects I said were bad ideas," Phil prodded hoping against hope that they had not really gone ahead with Project Insight. Nick merely looked at him, a hint of apology in his eyes, and Phil turned abruptly away from his old friend before he started actually yelling at him for allowing something like this to go forward. He knew that the WSC was likely behind this, as well as the US armed forces, but he knew Nick and if the man had truly put his foot down he could have halted the project.

 

He took a deep breath before letting it out slowly and finally allowed himself to turn back to face his friend. He knew his expression still showed how upset and angry he was by this revelation but he honestly could not have cared less.

 

"You have to kill the project," Phil told him firmly.

 

Nick's expression was pinched as though he had swallowed something bitter as he said "I have tried. I have been removed as head of the project and have been informed that I have no more authority over the project."

 

Phil's breath hissed out between his teeth as he realized exactly how bad this situation was. They had been out maneuvered, likely by the same people who had been responsible for the strike team going rogue and Phil shuddered to think what Hydra might do with those carriers.

 

"How long till they are ready and who is the new head of the project," Phil asked plans running through his head. If he could convince the Avengers of the danger that the carriers posed he might be able to recruit them to help him destroy them. He winced internally, he would have preferred to have taken out the carriers without anyone knowing who had sabotaged them but he knew the Avengers strength was not stealth but he knew they could destroy the carriers before they were able to kill thousands of innocents.

 

"Two days and Pierce," Fury answered his questions quietly making Phil wince as he realized how little time that gave them and who they would be up against. Alexander Pierce had always raised Phil's hackles for no reason he could name but he had to admit that the man was great at planning for all eventualities. That thought had him immediately casting his thoughts onto the Avengers. Just the fact that they had landed in D.C. might have drawn Pierce's attention and without a word he drew out his phone. He shot off a quick text to Natasha telling her in code to keep the others close and not allow them to go wandering outside the mansion. He knew she would understand that something dangerous was going on and make sure that the others actually stayed safe.

 

He had just put his phone away and turned back to Nick when his phone buzzed alerting him to a text message and he tensed when he saw 'T and B went for coffee and food with SB on my way to collect them.'

 

Of course the most physically vulnerable and the member they least wanted getting into a random altercation would have gone out for coffee just when they might be being hunted by a crazed organization with Nazi ties.

 

"I have to go," Phil told him as he slipped his phone back into his pocket and started for the door.

 

"Cheese," the old nickname made him turn back to his friend and Nick met his eyes.

 

"Be careful," he said simply his eyes serious and Phil nodded. They both knew the risks and that Phil would do whatever he had to to stop those carriers.

 

He strode out of the office, careful to keep his steps to a normal pace for him as the last thing he wanted was to draw attention to himself, however, by the time he was down in the lobby he knew he had gathered a tail.

 

Calmly, he got into the black jaguar he had borrowed from Stark and pulled out of the parking lot. His tail followed him in a black SUV and he grimaced as he noticed another SUV joining its fellow. He had to give his followers credit they were good but not good enough to escape his notice. Thinking quickly he contemplated what to do, he could easily lose them but if he could capture one of them alive he might be able to get information he and the team could use.

 

Decision made he calmly made his way to the outskirts of the city heading in the direction of where a minor SHIELD lab was located. As the areas they were driving through became more deserted he saw as his followers abandoned stealth and began moving in for an attack. Without breaking stride he gunned the engine and brought the car roaring down a side street. The SUVs raced after him as he calmly raced through the abandoned streets around him. His pursuers were gaining on him, and Phil could see that several men were leaning out of the pursuing cars windows in an effort to get a shot off when he spotted the building he was looking for. He silently apologized to Tony as he floored the accelerator and pointed the car directly at one of the abandoned warehouses lining the streets. The car shot forward and Phil allowed a small smile to play along his lips as the car collided with metal hanger doors at the front of the building.

 

Phil was out of the car and rolling across the floor of the warehouse as soon as the car had broken through the metal doors. Regaining his feet he moved quickly to the building's office located on the ground floor and hummed in satisfaction as he saw the old metal desk sitting against the wall. Without hesitation he ripped the desk away from the wall and grabbed the automatic rifle he had stashed here years ago along with a several hand grenades. A small smile lifted the corner of his mouth as he remembered setting up safe houses and weapon stashes around the city with Nick for emergencies.

 

Phil moved to the broken out windows of the office and watched as his pursuers streamed into the warehouse. He nearly growled as he noted that the people were wearing SHIELD issused tack suits and it pissed him off to no end that one man was even still wearing a SHIELD badge. He was going to teach these bastards that you didn't wear that uniform unless you were one hundred percent committed to the goals and ideals it represented.

 

He waited patiently until the group were through the door before he threw the first grenade. He watched in detachment as several heads turned to look as the grenade landed before people were scrambling away but not fast enough to completely escape the blast. He lobbed another grenade into the main room before following it into the main room after he heard it detonate. A few of the traitors were still alive but he ignored them in favor of flipping out of one of the side windows and sneaking around the edge of the building in order to get the SUVs in view. Just as he thought a guard had been left in place to secure the vehicles and Phil could see that the man had not expected any sort of major resistance and was still trying to process the explosions. Phil snorted as he noticed that the fool had not even drawn his weapon and had apparently not even made an attempt to contact anyone over the radio for backup.

 

Phil wondered if the man wasn't trying for backup because Hydra wasn't well enough entrenched to have backup ready for their people or if the man was just a complete fool. When the man had still not reached for his weapon when one of his own team stumbled out of the building coughing and clutching her side from a possible pierced lung he decided the man was just an idiot. Without hesitating further Phil took aim and shot the man in the temple. The body didn't even twitch as it hit the ground. The woman who had just exited the building was smarter than her team mate and dived back into the relative safety of the warehouse at the first sound of gunfire. Phil heard her muffled scream as she landed on her battered ribs and noted that she would likely be easy to subdue for questioning.

 

Scanning the area one more time he was thankful that no civilians seemed to be in the area. The last thing he needed was the police called to the scene or worse a good samaritan trying to help. Quickly he made his way to the back of the warehouse, careful to avoid the window he had used to exit the building in case anyone had seen his exit and thought to cover it. The backstairs were as dilapidated as he remembered but by staying to the right side of the staircase he was able to keep the noise of his assent to a minimum. At the top of the stairs a balcony ran along a bank of windows on the second story of the warehouse and Phil peered though one of the dirty panes. Three people had managed to find their feet and Phil noted that the woman with the broken ribs was trying to get the people still mobile into some semblance of order.

 

Slowly Phil pulled one of the ventilation grates up so that the sounds in the warehouse filtered out to him.

 

"....Marcus, take point, Lewin get up to the second floor and keep a look out, sniper position on the yard. I will cover from the door. We have to get to the vehicles before that bastard does," the woman's voice sounded hollowly from the vent.

 

"What if he has already done a runner," a large man, persumably Marcus, asked as the second man still mobile was already making his limping way up the stairs inside the building.

 

"Then he won't have gone far without a car," the woman snarled angry to have been questioned.

 

"This is Coulson we are talking about. If even half the stories about that bastard are true then he is like an attack dog. We need to think before we go after him," Marcus said then cut off abruptly as the woman, still holding her ribs, pointed her pistol between his eyes.

 

"Are you wavering in your commitment to Hydra," the woman hissed and Phil stilled as he recognized the tone of a fanatic in her voice.

 

"No, of course not. Never," the man said backing up a step with his hands up.

 

"I am just saying we need to think things through in order to make sure we succeed with our mission," Marcus tried again his tone trying for soothing but coming out scared. The man was obviously smart enough to realize that this woman was more than a bit unhinged.

 

"We follow the plan," the woman hissed and Phil grimaced as he saw through the window that blood was coming from her mouth clearly indicating that one of her lungs had indeed been punctured but the fact that the woman didn't seem to notice the wound made up Phil's mind for him. Fantic's in this woman's class were too dangerous to allow to live.

 

Positioning himself he fired twice taking the sniper out with a clean shot to his head but his second shot missed its mark slightly as the woman ducked causing him to strike her in the throat instead of the chest. Phil winced as she went down drowning in her own blood but he had no more time to worry about her as at the sound of his shots the third man had raced toward the door. Without blinking Phil blew out one of the man's knee caps and watched grimly as he collapsed down to the ground screaming.

 

Quickly, he made his way to a door at the end of the catwalk and raced down the stairs to where the man still laid screaming and clutching his leg. Gun aimed Phil started toward the man but spun abruptly to the side as a movement to his left caught his attention causing him to point his gun at where the woman still lay. Phil cursed as he saw her bring up her gun and aim at the man he had shot in the knee cap.

 

He brought his gun up for a kill shot but before he could fire the woman had already pulled the trigger shooting the man, Marcus, in the chest. Marcus stared down at the bleeding wound in his chest for a moment before he fell back already twitching in his death throws.

 

Without hesitation, Phil charged the woman as she struggled to bring up her gun for a last shot at him but Phil stepped on her wrist hard enough that he felt the snapping of bones under the heel of his loafer. Unfazed by the sensation of the woman's bones snapping he flipped her onto her side and struggled to stop her from chocking in her own blood as he now needed her to stay alive long enough for him to get some answers. He efficiently cleared the blood from her mouth while avoiding the teeth trying to take his fingers.

 

"If you want to live you will tell me what Hydra is planning," Phil growled as he kept the woman on her side.

 

A bloody, crazed smile spread over her lips just as she bit down hard on her back tooth and Phil heard a crunching sound and realized, too late, what the woman had done. He tried in vain to get her to spit out the poison but he could tell that it was too late by the way blood flecked foam was already coming from her lips.

 

Phil backed away with a grimace as the woman curled up grinning with fantic glee as bloody foam dripped to form a pool beside her head as she died. He checked the body to make sure she was really dead before he calmly checked the others hoping to find one person still alive to question but he was out of luck. With a sigh he pulled out his phone and texted Fury with one of his personal codes, letting him know he had been attacked but was alright and sending the address of the warehouse. He pocketed his phone, sure that Nick would get the bodies and warehouse cleaned up without his name being mentioned.

 

Looking back at the Jaguar he considered its bent in front end and the multitude of scratches covering the body.

 

'Well I can't leave it here. It will be too easy to link it back to Tony,' he thought calmly as he swung the driver's side door open and tried to start the engine. To his surprise the car started up with a purr and Phil wondered if he could convince Nick that Jaguars were good field cars, considering the cost Fury would likly have him committed for even suggesting it.

 

It took a little work to maneuver the car out of the warehouse through the much smaller back bay doors but he managed after a few minutes and was soon driving calmly back to Tony's D.C. mansion.

 

 

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And as an apology for being so late I will be posting another chapter where we finally get a visit from a certain archer.

 

 


	9. All In (Cards on the Table)

Enjoy!

 

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Bruce smiled tiredly as Tony practically skipped down the sidewalk beside him his eyes firmly fixed on the fast approaching coffee house less than a block from them.

 

"I swear Bruce you have got to try their white chocolate, caramel, mint frappe. You can get it decaf," Tony added as he noted Bruce starting to open his mouth to protest that the caffeine was bad for his control "And we might break the golden oldies a bit by introducing them to the joys of flavored coffee."

 

Steve just smiled in amusement as he said dryly "You know Tony both Bucky and I have had frappes. You have actually seen us drink them."

Tony waved his hand dismissively at this statement and continued extolling the virtues of their destination but Bruce was struck by the changes a year could make in two peoples' relationship.

 

A year ago before the Battle of New York, he had honestly been afraid to leave the Super Soldier and the inventor in the same room together least they start fighting but now they actually had become friends despite their differences. Bruce mused that a lot of that had to do with the camaraderie created by surviving an alien attack together but a lot of it was the two just getting to know each other and allowing themselves to see beyond the public image they presented to the world.

 

Yes, Tony could seem arrogant and selfish at first but once you got to know the man you realized quickly that that was just a front he displayed when he was uncomfortable or uncertain how to handle a situation. It hadn't helped that he had more issues with his father than almost anyone Bruce knew and that said father had been obsessed with finding one Steve Rogers since before Tony's birth. It was understandable that Tony had had some misplaced resentment toward Steve upon their first meeting.

 

As for Steve, Bruce had realized quickly that the man absolutely abhorred bullies. Bruce thought personally that Steve had taken Tony's flippant remarks and attitude as a form of bullying and reacted as he always did by meeting force with force. When Steve had realized that there was a lot more to Tony than a billionaire, playboy he had mellowed toward Tony considerably but what had really brought the two together as friends was Tony's reaction to Bucky.

 

Tony had been understandably upset when he had learned that Bucky had been the one to kill his parents and had gotten into several fights with Steve over him. The fact that Steve had brought Bucky into the tower, having not trusted SHIELD not to try to use or imprison Bucky, had made the fights ten times worse. Tony had felt betrayed and Steve had felt backed into a corner as he couldn't take Bucky out of the tower without risking that he might be captured. The fighting might have gotten to the breaking point but Tony had trusted Steve enough to not do anything rash until after he had learned everything he could about the issue.

 

Bruce didn't really know what Tony had found during his all night hacking session, Tony had refused to allow him to see the files and had made sure that no one ever mentioned them to Steve, but after that Tony had gone directly to Steve's floor. Bruce had trailed behind him wanting to defuse any fights that might occur but all Tony had done was knock on Steve's door and when there was no answer gently pushed the door open. They had found Steve collapsed against the wall three feet from Bucky who was standing in a corner of the room at attention while staring at nothing. Tear tracks had been clear against Steve's too pale face as he gazed at an unaware Bucky but he had snapped around to look at them as Bruce closed the door.

 

Steve had stared at them startled before closing his eyes in pain as he passed a weary hand across his face to wipe the tears from his face. He had slowly stood up, using the wall as support as though every move hurt but Bruce could tell from personally experience that it was more mental weariness than physical weariness that was weighing Steve down.

 

Steve had taken a deep breath as though steeling himself for the argument to come "Tony, I know what you are going to say and you are right. It was insensitive and stupid of me to impose on you like this. I am finding a place.."

 

"He can stay," Tony had said waving away Steve's words with a tired hand and leaving Steve gaping at him.

"What," Steve had asked clearly confused and unsure if he had heard right.

 

"He can stay and... and it was within your rights to bring him here. I gave you this floor so I don't get a say in how you use it or who you have live here," Tony rushed out waving his arms a bit in agitation as he paced in a small circle in front of the door. The movement seemed to draw Bucky's attention and Bruce had winced at the panic in the man's eyes as he seemingly realized that someone besides Steve was in the room with him but other than his eyes the man's face and posture had not changed at all. Anger licked like fire within his gut at the thought of how much torture it must have taken to get someone to stand without moving in the face of such panic inside them.

 

"Tony, calm down a bit. Alright," Bruce had said softly forcing his own agitation and anger down as Tony turned to look at him questioningly. Bruce had gestured with his eyes to Bucky who had still been standing at attention looking at them with panic filled eyes. A look of sympathy had crossed Tony's face as he had stared at Bucky but with an effort he had turned his attention to Steve as it was clear that his attention had been making Bucky's panic worse.

 

"Like I said, he can stay. I will have Jarvis send a list of possible therapists to your phone, good people who are used to helping prisoners of war and such," Tony said as he turned to slip out of the room "Just tell Jarvis if you need anything."

 

They had been almost to the elevator when they had turned back as Steve called from his bedroom door "Tony, ..... why..why did you change your mind. I mean I am glad you did but...."

 

And suddenly Bruce had really seen Steve and not Steve acting as Captain America and team leader; before then Bruce had never realized who much Steve held back around everyone.

 

Tony had stared back at Steve his mouth slightly open as he considered what to say before he finally shook his head and simply stated "I am still angry about my parents."

 

Steve had looked both crushed and as though he were about to argue at that statement but Tony's next words had seemed to take the breath from him "I am still angry and I probably will be for a while but I am just not angry at him anymore. No one should be made into a weapon."

 

They had stared at each other for a minute in silence before Tony had broken eye contact as he turned back to the waiting elevator. Bruce had given Steve a reassuring smile as he said "If you need any help just give me a call. I will do what I can."

 

The elevator doors had been closing as Steve's voice had filtered to them "Tony, Bruce .....thank you."

 

Tony had stared blankly at the wall but Bruce had known he had heard by the way his hand had balled into a fist at the wet hitch in Steve's voice.

 

The next several months had been hard for everyone as Bucky slowly came back to himself and healed mentally and physically from the decades of abuse that Hydra had inflicted on him but it had also brought everyone closer together. They were more than a team now, they were family, and they knew they could rely on each other if things got tough.

 

"If you really want to blow my mind, Stark, buy me a Reese cup smoothie," Bucky drawled carelessly but Bruce did not miss how the man kept glancing around at every movement and how closely he stuck to Steve's side.

 

"And here I would have thought your one true desire would have been me being silent for more than five minutes," Tony snarked back with a cocky grin.

 

"I am a realist, I like to ask for what I have a chance of getting," Bucky snipped back a hint of a smile softening the tension surrounding him and Tony bounced a bit more at having gotten Bucky to relax a bit. Moments later Tony grimaced as he jarred his yet to heal ankle and bruised ribs.

 

"Tony," Steve admonished with a long suffering look "We should go back. You need rest, you are still injured."

 

"No, what I need is caffeine and possible one of their goat cheese and apple danishes. Really you guys have got to try them, they practically melt in your mouth," Tony enthused ignoring the worried look Steve shot to Bruce. Bruce simply shrugged. Likely they would be carrying Tony back to the mansion at this rate but Bruce knew Tony well enough to know that sometimes you just had to let the man have his way. Thankfully Bruce had been able to wrap Tony's ribs and put a brace on his ankle before the man had talked him, Steve, and Bucky into going to a nearby coffee shop with him, Natasha, proving that she was smarter than the lot of them, had chosen to stay behind and take a long hot bath.

 

Steve looked highly sceptical of this statement though whether it was because of the goat cheese and apple danishes or Tony practically saying caffeine was a cure all was up to debate. Bucky, however, looked a little intrigued by the idea and said a bit wonderingly "Goat cheese and apple, umm. Actually doesn't sound half bad."

 

"Stick with me Robocop, the world will be your oyster," Tony said teasingly and seemed pleased when Bucky snorted a small laugh at the joke.

 

"You know I actually know what that reference is to now, right," Bucky said as they all sat down at one of the many outdoor tables. Tony grinned at the memory of their last movie night.

 

"But I still got you on Terminator," Tony hummed just as the waitress started to approach and noting the way that Bucky was tensing up Tony smoothly moved to intercept the young woman before she could get within ten feet of their table. A charming smile later and a bit of small talk and Tony was heading back to their table with the menus in hand and with the waitress heading back into the coffee shop.

 

"Here. Just tell me what you want and I will tell Janice. She agreed to just let me bring out the stuff so we can have our privacy," Tony told them easily as he handed out the menus as though he waited tables every day. Steve flashed him a grateful smile but Bucky simply frowned down at his menu.

 

"Sorry, I know she wasn't going to do anything. It was stupid to get all tense," Bucky apologized his shoulders tense and Bruce could guess that he was making frustrated fists under the table.

 

"Don't worry about it. My pulse still starts racing anytime I have to put my head under water," Tony told them carelessly as he examined his menu but the fingers of his left hand drummed restlessly on the table in a way they only did when he was upset or worried about something.

 

Silence descended on the table for a moment before Bucky snorted a laugh.

 

"I guess, between you and me we won't be having an Avengers swimming pool party with the Playboy bunnies anytime soon then," Bucky said faking a disappointed frown.

 

Tony glanced up at him with surprise then grinned widely.

 

"Why so disappointed, Barnes, you know the girls would have been all over me anyway. That is why they tagged on the playboy to the billionaire, philanthropist moniker."

 

"I thought that was a self-appointed title," Bucky rejoined and just like that the two of them were off trading quips and barbs leaving Bruce and Steve to roll their eyes in fond exasperation.

 

Bruce laughed in delight as Bucky's latest verbal volley left Tony gaping like a fish and Steve struggling to hide his grin behind his menu.

 

"I see how it is. You are both on his side," Tony exclaimed with a dramatic finger point in their direction "I expected it of Steve but really Bruce, you...."

 

Tony cut off as a surprised look spread across his face and Bruce was just turning to see what had caught his attention when he felt a hand catch his. Warm, work roughened fingers laced with his own as a chair scrapped up beside him. Bruce stared at the hand laced in his stupidly before following the arm up to find Hawkeye, the man they had been looking for, sitting casually beside him, a pleasant expression on his face and steely determination in his eyes.

 

Without a word the man threw a folder on the table as he calmly straddled the chair he had pulled up to their table, keeping a firm hold of Bruce's right hand with his left.

 

"What," Steve exclaimed as he started to rise but Hawkeye interrupted him smoothly "Sit back down, Captain or I detonate the bomb I have in my wrist guard," at this the man held up their joined hands then continued calmly as though he were not talking about mutilating himself and others "and we get to see how much damage the Hulk can do to the D.C. area."

 

Steve seemed completely stunned by the man's words as did the others but Bruce didn't have time for shock, he was too busy trying to control his racing heart. Distantly he noted that his skin had taken on a greenish tinge but while Hawkeye glanced at the change he seemed supremely unconcerned by the possibility of meeting the Hulk personally.

 

'I guess if he is willing to blow himself up he isn't too worried about the Hulk ripping him apart,' Bruce thought wearily as he slowly brought his racing heart under control.

 

"What......," Bruce started once his skin had returned to its normal shade but stopped as he realized what Hawkeye was doing was obvious, the why was what was in question. Meeting the man's eyes, he noted absently that they were a startling shade of stormy blue/grey with flecks of dark green throughout, he asked in confusion "Why are you doing this?"

 

A flicker of regret seemed to pass through those extraordinary eyes before they iced over again and the man nudged the file he had dropped on the table.

 

"I want the antidote to those. Give it to me and we all walk away from this with no problems," Hawkeye drawled then added with cold indifference "And if you don't I set off the bomb and me and the Doc get our arms blown off."

 

"Clint," Steve started and Hawkeye turned a hard look on him at the name but Steve just returned his look with open concern and Bruce thought he saw the assassin twitch a bit in discomfort. Bruce didn't blame the man, anyone with a shred of decency couldn't help but be affected by Steve when he was in full on Captain mode.

 

"You don't want to do this, Clint. You don't want to hurt Bruce and use him as a weapon to hurt so many others," Steve told Hawkeye earnestly and Bruce could fill Hawkeye's flinch more than see it but the next moment the man had tightened the hand gripping his tight enough to make Bruce clench his teeth to keep from crying out as the bones in his hand ground together.

 

"I didn't want to hear my son screaming my name in agony, begging me to end his pain as this shit you invented ate away at him but I didn't really have a choice," Hawkeye growled his teeth bared and voice rasping in his anger.

 

"I didn't Want to learn that two of my neighbors who got shot died from heart attacks induced by the pain caused by whatever the fuck this is," Clint continued in a low furious voice as he slapped his hand on the file he had flung on the table before continuing in a voice that slowly gained volume as he told them "I didn't Want to have to put my Son in a fucking medically induced coma so that I could buy him time before his own heart gave out but I REALLY DIDN'T GET A CHOICE."

 

Clint met each of their eyes his breath coming fast and hard as he seemed to finally realize that in his anger he had stood up and dragged Bruce up with him. Running a shaking hand through his hair, Clint slowly sank back into his chair and after a moment of shock Bruce sank down into his own seat. Steve looked utterly devastated while Bucky's expression had closed off but Bruce didn't miss the way his jaw was clenched so hard that his super soldier enhancements were the only reason he had not cracked a tooth. Tony just stared at the file as though it was a viper and Bruce knew he was bracing himself to look through it. Glancing around Bruce saw several people casting them weary looks but thankfully none of them seemed willing to get closer.

 

Turning his attention away from the staring people, he stared at the still visibly upset archer before slowly reaching for the file on the table before Tony could make a grab for it. He didn't want the man to see the file until he could be sure that no pictures had been included of the people who had already died from this thing. A quick glance had him relaxing for a moment as he saw that there were no pictures of anyone dying in agony or of any people at all but his heart sank quickly as he took in the molecular signature of three samples taken from three different blood samples. The signatures, along with a photo of one of the blood samples taken under magnification meant that he was positive that the substance identified within the blood samples was the nano constructs he and Tony had made to deliver a timed sedative to the Hulk.

 

Looking up at the others he slowly passed the file to Tony who looked it over with a pale face and continued to stare at it in shock before finally looking up at Clint.

 

"This.....," Tony paused clearly struggling to gather himself before trying again in a voice that was just a touch breathy from emotion "I.. These...they are not weapons. At least they were never meant to be. They were meant to act as a delivery method for sedatives for the Hulk. They are nano capsules that break down in the blood within a 24 to 178 hour period of time. We could never make the time more precise so they were useless but...."

 

Tony shrugged helplessly under Clint's hard stare seeming at a loss when faced with the obvious emotional agony the other man was going through. Slowly the archer leaned forward against the back of the chair and still staring at Tony said in a soft, deceptively calm voice which still managed to convey the anger and desperate grief he was feeling better than a shout "I don't give a damn what these things were intended for, I just want to know how to stop them before they kill my son."

 

Bruce stared at the side of Clint's face, noting the desperate set of his jaw, the pain in his eyes and finally cleared his throat gaining everyone's attention.

 

"We don't know how to stop it," Bruce told the man softly feeling as his hand tighten painfully once more on his hand but not flinching this time as he met the archer's eyes squarely and explained "This delivery system was meant to be injected into my blood and the nano containers were meant to open when a specific electrical signal was passed to them from a controller but while the nanos responded to the signal they were also triggered by random chemical signals found in mammalian blood. The project was shelved because we couldn't ever figure out how to stop the nanos from releasing their contents early. We worked for months on them without success."

 

Bruce stopped as the man in front of him seemed to slump in despair.

 

"So there is nothing to be done but to kill him quickly and put him out of his misery," Clint whispered his expression so devastated that Bruce ached for him. He could tell that the man was planning on killing his son to end his pain and that then he planned on killing himself.

 

"But we could.....I mean if we could run some tests. We might be able to figure out what they put in the nanos and figure out a way to neutralize it," Bruce rushed out, wanting, no needing to erase that look from Clint's face. He didn't think he had ever seen a look so full of love, determination, and pain in his life.

 

"It wouldn't be for sure. I mean we have no idea what we are dealing with but we could try," Bruce hurried to tell him, not wanting to get the man's hopes up.

 

"You think I would trust you with my son," Clint snarled as he abruptly looked Bruce square in the eyes and Bruce felt his heart plummet as he realized that while he might be able to help, the man was also right not to let his son near a monster like him.

 

"Hey," Tony started to protest angrily but Clint cut him off "You work for the organization that Shot...My...Son. Do you really think I am going to give you access to him so that your bosses can finish the job?"

 

Bruce blinked in surprise as the man beside him swept his gaze over everyone. Clint wasn't reluctant to let him near his son because of the Hulk but because of SHIELD which he obviously didn't know had been infiltrated by Hydra. For some reason that he couldn't name he felt relieved that this man didn't object to them helping his son because of the Hulk.

 

"Hydra," Bruce said softly and was rewarded by Clint turning a surprised look on him. "Hydra has been infiltrating SHIELD and they were the ones who hurt your neighbors and son. We would never work for any group that would hurt innocent people."

 

Bruce met Clint's eyes as the other man searched his face for signs of deceit before sitting back to examine the rest of them.

 

"I don't trust you," Clint said finally with a sad smile and a shrug "No words will change that. So why would I put my son's life in your hands."

 

Silence was his only answer for a heart beat before "Because you don't have a choice."

 

Clint turned a hard glare on Bucky seeming unsure if that was a threat or not but Bucky merely continued to look at the table seeming both tired and sad.

 

"It is true, isn't it," Bucky asked softly glancing up through his eyelashes at the other man with understanding in his eyes "You wouldn't have approached us, risked your life if you had had any more readily available options."

 

He paused finally looking fully at Clint "I know what desperation looks like. I have seen it enough in the mirror to recognize it in someone else."

 

Clint lent back his eyes still locked with Bucky's as emotions flicked through those expressive eyes too fast to follow before the man finally sighed as he let go of Bruce's hand and used his now free hand to rub at his eyes.

 

"Fine," the archer breathed in defeat, the life seeming to have been sucked from him. Bruce realized that he didn't believe in them, didn't believe they wouldn't just turn him in and let his son die but he had no choice but to take the chance.

 

Impulsively Bruce reached out with the hand that was still warm from Clint's grip and gently took the hand that had been gripping his own not a moment before. Clint actually started at his touch as he stared at him in surprise.

 

"You can keep me as a hostage if you want," Bruce offered then at the archer's look of incomprehension added quickly "To ensure we don't betray you or your son. I mean no one wants the Hulk running around so.....um..."

 

Bruce trailed off as the man beside him continued to regard him with puzzled surprise before a small smile quirked his lips and he gently disentangled his hand from Bruce's. Deftly the archer removed his wrist guard and tossed it casually on the table making them flinch before relaxing as the bomb didn't go off.

 

"Hey, be more careful with those. You may be ok with being blown up but the rest of us aren't," Tony exclaimed then huffed in irritation as Clint chuckled slightly.

 

"Are you nuts," Tony asked and Bruce wondered if the archer was a little off.

 

"It doesn't have any explosives, couldn't get any in time for this meeting. We only realized you were landing in D.C. about three hours ago after all," Clint told them calmly then added with a smirk as they continued to look stumped "I was bluffing."

 

"Seriously, seriously. Are you even for real? You threatened Captain America, the Winter Soldier, the Hulk, and Ironman with a fake bomb," Tony exclaimed waving his arms and completely ignoring the scolding looks thrown at him for referring to Bucky as the Winter Soldier.

 

"I am disappointed. We merit at least a real threat," Tony continued in a huff.

 

Clint merely raised an eyebrow at the rant and gave an amused smirk as he said sarcastically "The next time I threaten you I will try to live up to your high expectations."

 

"You better," Tony huffed crossing his arms, ignoring or missing the archer's sarcasm.

 

"Tony, we are going to have a long talk about not giving people tips on how to attack us," Steve said with a sigh as he stood from the table.

 

"I am going to go pay our tab. After that I think we should go to where your son is. Do you have a vehicle that will fit us all," Steve asked as he pulled out his wallet.

 

Clint looked around at the lot of them then shook his head. "I stole a little Honda to get here but I doubt you and Barnes could fit in the back together without one of you riding in the others lap let alone fit the rest of you."

 

"Right," Steve said simply though it was clear that he disapproved of the fact that Clint had stolen a car.

 

"Don't worry, Cap, the man I stole the car from deserves a jacked car and more," Clint said a hint of amusement in his eyes once more as he clearly read the reason for Steve's discomfort.

 

Steve glanced at him in surprise but settled for a simple nod of acknowledgement as he went to the counter to pay. None of them missed the way that Bucky became more tense as Steve moved away or the way that he followed Steve with his eyes. Bucky still had a hard time allowing Steve out of his sight convinced that Steve would be hurt or killed if Bucky wasn't backing him up at all times.

 

The rest of them sat in awkward silence during Steve's absence, even Tony seemed subdued as Clint gazed down at his lap his gaze distant and haunted.

 

"Clint, would the place you are treating Matt have an area we could land a quinjet," Steve asked as he returned after taking his seat once more.

 

Clint stared at him hard still hesitant to trust them but finally he nodded tersely then added "It was how we got him there."

 

"Why did you bring him to America," Bruce wondered out loud then flushed in embarrassment as all eyes turned to him.

 

"Sorry, it is just ...... well you must have moved him before the nanos started releasing their," he paused here as he realized the man didn't need to be reminded about what danger his son was in and that he needed to choose his words carefully to avoid causing him further pain "contents. So why America? From what I remember there are some very good underground hospitals all throughout Europe."

 

Bruce left out the part that he had worked at quite a few of those hospitals while he was first on the run because they rarely asked too many questions about a person's past.

 

"I have contacts here that I trust to help me and Matt when things go south," Clint told them tersely but refused to elaborate further and none of them pushed not wanting to push the other man into changing his mind about allowing them to help Matt.

 

"Well, we will have to get Agent Agent's permission to use the quinjet unless you want to take one of my private jets. The quinjet would be better though since it has a medical area," Tony told them as they started back toward his mansion. Bruce could tell the man was annoyed that his jet was lacking and Bruce had no doubt that the billionaire would have medical areas on his jets within the week.

 

The walk back to the mansion was tense with both Clint and Bucky scanning the surrounding buildings and crowds for danger but thankfully it was also brief. Walking past the gate attendant they all pulled to a stop as they spotted Phil leaning against the ruined Jaguar with Natasha standing on the steps of the mansion giving the agent an unimpressed look.

 

Phil and Natasha turned to them at the same time and no one missed the way that Natasha's hand inched toward a weapon as she spotted Clint but Phil merely raised a single eyebrow before nodding pleasantly at the archer.

 

"Hawkeye," Phil said calmly before turning his attention to Tony "I am afraid I had a little accident with your car, Tony. My apologies."

 

"Damn, Agent Agent, I thought I was tough on cars," Tony said wonderingly, seeming not at all perturbed that Phil had essentially totalled a quarter million dollar car, as he circled the car to get a better look at the damage.

 

"Are these bullet holes," Tony asked fingering a hole in the rear of the car and Phil nodded.

 

"I was followed from SHIELD headquarters by a group of Hydra agents and had to lead them on a chase before I was able to eliminate them," Phil stated still regarding them calmly as though he got chased by a crazy Nazi affiliated group all the time.

 

Clint strolled around the car ignoring Natasha's wary regard and Phil's unconcerned eyes as he stroked a hand over the crumpled hood of the Jaguar.

 

"Went through a metal warehouse door, umm," Clint said more than asked as he looked the car over. To Bruce's surprise Clint lightly hopped up onto the top of the car in order to poke around at something up there.

 

"Yes, how did you know," Phil asked curiously as he watched Clint poke around. Clint flashed him a grin with more teeth than strictly polite as he said "I have crashed my share of cars through warehouse doors. The corrigated metal leaves distinctive grooves when it tears through a car."

 

Clint made a considering noise as he poked a finger through an especially deep groove "Though I have to admit even I haven't crashed a Jaguar through a warehouse door before."

 

From his tone and expression Bruce thought that the archer was regretting the fact that he hadn't yet crashed a Jaguar through a metal door and Bruce wondered briefly how this had become his life. Super spies, assassins, a super soldier, former brainwashed super soldier, and an Agent who could probably stop the end of the world while still filling out his paperwork. 'I have no idea how I did not realize my life was so boring before I met up with this group,' he thought as he let a tiny smile slip onto his face.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 


	10. A Falcon and his Charge

Sorry guys it has been so long. Work is more than hectic. I hope everyone enjoys this latest offering.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

"Phil, we were hoping to use the quinjet," Steve spoke up from beside Bucky as Hawkeye continued to poke around the damaged car, seeming to ignore the lot of them. Phil wasn't fooled. He could see how the man was placing himself so that if it came to a fire fight they would have to hold their fire or risk injuring one of their team mates and the way that the higher vantage point of the car gave the man easy access to several escape routes, including the roof of the mansion. Most people might not have been able to make the acrobatic moves necessary to go from the roof of the car to the roof of the mansion but Phil was well briefed on the archer and knew if he wanted to the man would have vaulted from the car, scaled the side of the mansion, and disappeared onto the roof before they could stop him.

 

What was telling was that the man had not already taken that avenue of escape, clearly Hawkeye was there of his own free will and had decided to work with them for the moment. The question Phil had to ask himself was why?

 

The man had been furious enough over the attack on his son to not only attack SHIELD and kill the strike team but to have carried out the attack while the Avengers were on the property, what then would cause the man to have set aside his anger in order to work with them? The answer came to him easily as he looked at the man he had actively been trying to recruit for fifteen years, something had happened with the man's son and he needed the Avengers help to fix it.

 

"Alright, it should have already been fueled by this point and be on standby for the Avengers," Phil agreed calmly still watching the archer who had tensed almost unnoticeably at his words.

 

"You are awful accepting of all this," Hawkeye drawled as he continued to poke at the car with a disinterested air "Welcome many enemies into the fold who have killed one of your strike teams before?"

 

Phil noted the way Natasha had tensed as she went on the defensive and the way that the others seemed willing to come to Hawkeye's defense but Phil ignored them, he knew the other man was testing him.

 

"I don't worry over the deaths of traitors who have harmed civilians. If you hadn't killed them I would have," Phil told him then added letting a little hint of the cold anger burning inside him leak into his voice "The only thing I am upset about is that I didn't get to interrogate them to find out what they knew about Hydra's plans."

 

Hawkeye snorted softly but whether in disbelief or humor Phil didn't know the man well enough to tell.

 

"And just like that you're willing to let me join up, use one of your few remaining aircrafts on a whim," the man asked with a lifted eyebrow and a mocking twist to his mouth as though he thought them all incredibly foolish but Phil could see the honest confusion in his eyes. The man before him was off center and grasping at straws. He didn't trust them, in fact he actively distrusted them, but he was being forced to trust them because of his son which was putting him on edge. A man on the edge was always dangerous but a man with Hawkeye's skills was an enemy that SHIELD did not need at the moment, so Phil needed to win an alliance with this man or neutralize him. Phil knew himself well enough to know that he couldn't kill a man who was just trying to protect his family so he would have to win him over if he could.

 

"Even though the strike team was following another groups orders the fact remains that they still used SHIELD to hurt you and others. If we can help repair that damage then we will," Phil said then knew immediately he had said the wrong thing. Something he had said had triggered the archer and now the man was looking at him from glacier eyes as he slipped off the top of the car and glided toward him.

 

"And what do you know about that damage," the archer purred in a voice that might have been taken as sultry if an undercurrent of rage didn't boil under the words. Phil refused to back away as the other man invaded his space but instead studied the other man for clues to what he might have said to set him off.

 

"Clint, Phil didn't know any more than the rest of us did," Steve said taking a step forward his expression earnest and open but Hawkeye didn't even turn towards his approach as he glanced at Natasha who had been stealthily making her way down the steps toward the archer.

 

"Far enough, Widow," the archer growled and Natasha stopped, hands up in a gesture meant to show how harmless she was but Hawkeye was not fooled and merely gestured her back. Natasha was too well trained to glance at him worriedly but Phil had known her long enough to know that she was concerned for his safety, Hawkeye was close enough that he could kill him in any number of ways and Phil knew he was no match for the man in front of him in hand to hand combat. Phil's strength lay in his ability to analyze a situation, come up with a plan, and change that plan at a moment's notice as the situation required and while he was a good fighter he wasn't in the same league as Clint or Natasha but really he didn't need that.

 

"I seem to be missing some facts, care to enlighten me," Phil asked meeting the other man's stare and hoping that his read of the other man was correct. Hawkeye might have been an assassin but he was an assassin with strong morals, he had never once gone after a target that he hadn't considered deserving of the kill nor had he ever to their knowledge attacked someone without cause.

 

True to form the man continued to stare him down, waiting perhaps for a reason to attack him but holding himself back from doing so until that reason was clear.

 

"My son and the others shot by 'your team' started experiencing extreme pain within 48 hours of being shot. Two of the wounded have already died from shock and my son is the only one left. We had to put him in a medical coma," the archer didn't pause as he said this but Phil saw the way the man's hand tightened as though longing to hit something and knew that the man was far from detached from his son's suffering "and the people treating Matt found a substance that those two," he indicated Tony and Bruce with a nod of his head "were working on. So I came here to find out what they knew."

 

Phil noted that both Bruce and Tony looked extremely guilty at the reminder that something they had been working on was being used to torture people but knew that neither man would have been working deliberately on something meant to cause pain so the substance they made must have been used for something else.

 

"And you knew they had been working on this substance the same way you knew the schematics for the Ironman suit," Phil asked and Hawkeye's eyes narrowed as he considered whether to give that information or not before he nodded once.

 

"I would like all information that you obtained from that hack," Phil requested and the man in front of him clenched his jaw in anger before saying softly "In return for the use of the quinjet and the treatment for Matt, I suppose."

 

"No," Phil said immediately wanting to make it clear to the archer that they were not holding the man's son's safety hostage "Your son will receive the best care we have but I need to plug those leaks so this doesn't happen again. We have some ideas how the information was leaked but confirmation would be helpful."

 

"And you really expect me to believe that SHIELD will expect nothing in return for Matt's care," the archer scoffed clearly not believing him at all and angry at what he saw as manipulation.

 

"No, we won't," Phil promised simply and knew he was going to have Director Fury down his throat and out the other end for not binding this man heart and soul to SHIELD with every threat and promise at his disposal. In a way Fury would be right, Hawkeye was dangerous, he had proved that with his attack on SHIELD headquarters in New York but Phil also knew the archer was a free spirit. If SHIELD tried to bind the man with chains of force the man like his name sake would fight those chains until he had broken free or broken himself under their weight and neither would help SHIELD in the long run. However, if Phil could bring the archer into SHIELD willingly by showing him that they would help him with his son without strings attached they would gain the loyalty of a man who was willing to do anything for those he cared about and Phil knew that core would make an agent that SHIELD could depend on.

 

"Do you think me stupid," the man snarled "You have been chasing me for years and you are just going to give up that easily on your dreams of me joining your super secret spy club?"

 

"I am not giving up on anything, Mr. Barton. I still want you for SHIELD but I am not stupid enough to think I can drag you in with force. You are too hot headed by half and more likely to damage any mission I put you on if you felt resentment toward SHIELD," Phil explained easily then added meeting the man's eyes "No, I want your loyalty. The best way to get that is to show you why you should fight for us, what SHIELD is all about."

 

Hawkeye blinked once at him then fell back a few paces to lean against the Jaguar, his expression unreadable as he studied Phil closely.

 

Finally, he seemed to come to a decision and shrugged as he said quietly "Always knew you were a wily bastard Coulson," then louder he said "So which car are we taking to get to the air strip?"

 

Coulson raised an eyebrow at the change in topic but was wise enough not to try to raise the topic again instead simply turning to Tony for his input.

 

"What," Tony asked surprised as all eyes turned to him but then the billionaire seemed to realize that they needed a car.

 

"Over there, there is a garage or maybe it is over there," Tony added pointing his arm in the opposite direction. "Sorry, I don't use the D.C. place often but there are cars. Just choose the ones you want."

He said this with a careless wave of his hand and Hawkeye glanced to him in question but Phil merely shook his head. He had learned over the last year that the billionaire really didn't place much significance on material objects excepting maybe his suits.

 

With a sigh, he led the team toward the left side of the building remembering that that was where the garage was. As he typed in the code that would open the external doors he noted the way that Natasha was wearily watching Hawkeye which was normal for the spy anytime she felt someone had the potential to be a threat and the way that Steve was keeping close to Bucky which was also normal. What surprised him was that Hawkeye was keeping close to Bruce and that Bruce was not only letting him but seemed relaxed in the archer's presence. It had taken Bruce months to relax in the presence of the other members of the team and even now he and Natasha were like oil and water but Bruce seemed to have taken an unprecedented liking to the archer. Tony unsurprisingly was sticking close to Bruce but was also trying to draw Hawkeye into their discussion without much success which didn't seem to bother any of the three at all.

 

Observing his team more closely, Phil realized that even Bucky was pretty accepting of the archer and that Steve was just being Steve and accepting the man at face value as he did with anyone who he felt was a good person. Glancing at Natasha he realized that she was the only hold out that was still worried about the archer and that he would have to work on that. If Phil's plans for Hawkeye to join the Avengers were to come to fruition he would need all the team to be able to work comfortably with the man and he refused to have the man's joining be another wedge to drive Natasha out.

 

Natasha was first and foremost his agent and he wanted her to be included in this team but he knew that the only person she was truly comfortable around was him. Even with Steve the most open and least threatening she kept her distance. Phil wondered, not for the first time, if he should have put Natasha with another handler when he had first brought her into SHIELD, wondering if his own standoff personality had kept her from making any personnel connections within the organization but dismissed the idea once more. At the time, the young Black Widow had trusted no one else and likely would have run if placed with another agent but he still regretted that he had failed to show her that life was more than a continuous fight. Glancing at the archer sharing a joke with Tony he wondered if things might have been different if he had been able to bring in Clint all those years ago. Clint might have been just what Natasha needed to realize that while life could be horrible it could also be beautiful.

 

His musings were given new life when as the garage door opened and Clint turned to whistle at the collection of cars revealed as the over head lights came to life.

 

"Wow, I call first dibs," the archer said with a small grin as he ran appreciative eyes along the rows of gleaming cars.

 

Natasha watched the archer move along the rows of cars uncertainly and Phil felt a bubble of hope rise in his chest as he wondered if Clint might just be what was needed to form these people into a true team, he resolved to find out.

 

 

 

 

Any excitement that Clint might have felt upon seeing Tony's impressive collection of cars quickly faded as they moved to pick two cars that could carry the lot of them. The only thing that seemed to lighten his mood even slightly was when Steve offered to drive and Bucky quickly vetoed the idea.

"But Bucky," Steve had started but Bucky had just sent him a glare saying "I have PTSD already Stevie. I don't need it made worse with your piss poor driving. Remember the convoy incident."

 

Steve had actually winced at Bucky's words and quickly agreed leaving Tony and the others extremely curious about what they were referring to but unwilling to take the time to bring it up. Tony resolved to ask the two super soldiers about what happened later when he was not crowding into one of his less conspicuous cars with three other people.

 

The trip to the air strip passed in relative quiet and Tony could see the way that Clint became stiller and stiller as he brooded over what they would find when they got to where Matt was. Tony could understand, he also tended to brood when he was dreading something but generally he was never that still. Tony didn't do stillness.

 

'Seriously, the guy barely seems to be breathing,' Tony thought then realized he must have been staring when Clint looked up at him questioningly.

 

"Um,....sorry you were just really still. Not really something I am familiar with," Tony babbled then shut his mouth with an effort looking to Bruce for help. The other scientist just gave him an apologetic half smile and turned his attention firmly to the tablet they had been looking at as they theorized different ways to help Matt.

 

"Sniper," Clint muttered and Tony blinked.

 

"What? I mean I usually am pretty quick on the uptake but even for me," Tony started but Clint cut him off with a snort of laughter and Tony was pleased to see a small smile on the man's grim face.

 

"Stark, I am a sniper. Tense situations where others would be moving or fidgeting I go still," Clint explained easily as he relaxed enough to lean back in the seat and cross his arms (quite impressive arms Tony noted) "Just the way I am."

 

"Alriiiiight," Tony drew out the word unsure really what being a sniper had to do with staying still.

 

Clint rolled his eyes but seemed more amused than annoyed.

 

"I take it you don't know many snipers," Clint asked and Tony shrugged.

 

"Just Bucky Bear and he is never that still," Tony said studying the man.

 

"Yeah, well Barnes is coming off a bad time and dealing with the PTSD so he is probably not acting much in character. Give him a chance to get acclimated and you will likely see him go _still_ ," Clint explained. Tony didn't miss the way he put an emphasis on the word still as though it was something more than a lack of movement.

 

"See snipers can wait hours, days, or in some cases weeks for a shot at their target. Some of that time is spent finding a nest," at Tony's confused look Clint explained "a nest is where a sniper waits for their target. Usually it is someplace high but not always. It does have to be someplace that is in the middle of things without being conspicuous and you have to be able to hide there and get a clean shot at the same time. For one hit I spent over a week in my nest just waiting for my targets to be in the right place at the right time for me to take them out."

 

"And by take them out you mean....," Tony trailed off suddenly uncomfortable. Sure he and the other Avengers had killed before but he couldn't imagine waiting in one place for days, observing the person he was going to kill, and then having to take the shot.

 

"By that, I mean I put an arrow through their boss's aortia and killed his two lieutenants before getting out of there," Clint told him simply with about as much emotion as someone else might use to describe a walk they had just taken.

 

Tony decided to ignore the elephant in the room for once and asked instead "But you said you spent a week in ..... your nest. Didn't you have to get up, move, eat, go to the bathroom?"

 

Tony listed things off in a more incredulous voice but each time Clint just shook his head with a small smile.

 

"When I am in my nest I go into my own head. Eating is only granola bars, if that, some sips of water, the bathroom is usually a bottle, and the rest is just stillness," Clint tried to explain but seeing Tony's confused look he just shrugged "It may be something that only another sniper would fully understand but.....well don't you have anything you are really into, that you do better than anyone else?"

 

"Yeah, inventing," Tony told him immediately and would have launched immediately into telling the other man about his latest suit design but the smile the other man wore stopped him. It was like he actually got Tony's passion for his craft.

 

"Ok, so inventing is your thing. Do you ever get really into it and kind of go into your own head and when you come out you find that hours have passed and you haven't once thought about eating or drinking or sleeping," Clint asked passion in his voice and Tony found himself nodding fully understanding what the other man was talking about. From beside him he could see that Bruce was also looking up and unconsciously nodding his head. Phil didn't appear to be paying attention to anything besides the road in front of him but Tony knew the man was listening to every word.

 

"Well, that is what sniping is for me. When I find the perfect nest I go in my own head until I am completely focused. It isn't that I am not aware of my surroundings but that I am so aware of them that I can see the sparkle off an insect wing or feel the beating of my heart like a drum chorus," Clint told them and Tony realized he could understand the passion in the other man's voice if not the reason for it.

 

"Ok, I guess I can get that," Tony said consideringly adding "Not literally, you know. I have no desire to stay still for an hour let alone a week and peeing in a bottle.....well, the suit does have a built in."

 

"Tony," Bruce interrupts quickly before Tony could go into all the amenities that he had built into his suits.

 

"What Tony is trying to say is we can understand your passion if not your reason for it but....well...," Bruce hesitated then after fidgeting for a moment asked "How will you explain what you do to Matt when he is older? Or do you just intend not to tell him?"

 

Hawkeye stared at Bruce blankly for a moment and Tony could feel the way that the tension in the car ratcheted up as the other man continued to consider the scientist before, to everyone's surprise, Hawkeye burst into laughter.

 

"Doc, I told Matt what I did for a living a long time ago," Clint explained with a shrug "I don't keep secrets from my son. I mean I don't tell him details or anything and he doesn't go on missions with me but he knows enough."

 

Tony and Bruce stared at the other man in surprise. On the one hand it was good that Clint trusted his son but at the same time it was a little inappropriate to be telling an eleven year old that you killed people for a living.

 

Clint merely looked at them slightly confused by their silence but didn't get a chance to ask them what was wrong before Coulson cut in smoothly "We are almost to the airport. You all had best get ready to move. I don't trust that Hydra won't have tracked us."

 

Suddenly the archer was all business as he pulled a small pistol out but Tony was damned if he could see where the man had stashed the thing. The man cast a considering look back at the two scientists when they didn't move to draw a weapon of any kind but shrugged when Phil explained "Neither Tony or Bruce are trained to use a weapon."

 

"Hey, I used to build weapons for a living. I can use anything you name," Tony told them, stung by the remark. He was Ironman not some civilian, he could handle himself.

 

"Tony, this is not about ability it is about training," Phil explained as he pulled into the air strip. "I know you are a good shot on the range but in a fire fight you can't just shoot. You have to know when to take cover and how to stay in cover while taking the shot."

 

"If you want to learn the proper way to handle yourself in a fight that doesn't involve the suit I will be happy to teach you and Bruce both but for now just follow our lead and let us protect you," Phil added as Tony was gearing up for a protest. Tony slumped back into his seat sending a glare at the back of Agent Agent's head but had to admit the man had a point.

 

"I could just suit up," he said with no real heat in his voice.

 

"You and covert aren't on a first name basis," Clint dead panned with a raised eyebrow and Tony felt himself grin. He liked someone who wasn't afraid to snark back at him.

 

"We haven't even been in the same city before," Tony said blandly with a smirk threatening to curl the corners of his lips.

 

The archer rolled his eyes with a grin that slid more into predatory territory as they pulled into a parking spot and the car carrying the others slid in beside them.

 

"Remind me to introduce the two of you sometime. Covert ops are just like playing hide-and-seek but with a whole lot more guns and broken bones than the kids version. You will love it," Clint told them as he moved quickly out of the car, doing a perimeter check while keeping his gun out of sight.

 

"You and sanity parted ways a long time ago," Tony rejoined as he exited the car at Clint's signal.

 

"Never even knew the fella," Clint told him with a smirk as he spared him a glance before his eyes were roaming over the area once more for possible threats.

 

Tony kept up the banter throughout the trip to the quinjet and realized just as they were entering the jet that Coulson and Barton had been playing bodyguards for Bruce and him as they shepherded the group to the quinjet while the others followed behind as added fire power.

 

Really the whole operation had been carried out so smoothly Tony didn't know if he should be insulted or impressed but settled on shrugging it off as they settled down for take off.

 

"Where to," Natasha asked as she took her customary seat in the pilot's chair.

 

"Head like you are going to New York City. I will give you directions as we go," Clint told them from where he was somehow perched on top of one of the quinjets seats.

 

Natasha turned to glare at the archer but Clint merely returned her glare with a calm look and an arched brow.

 

"Is there a reason you can't give us exact coordinates," Phil asked as he clicked his seat belt into place.

 

"I don't trust you," Clint said simply then added at Bruce's hurt look "I trust you to help with Matt but I don't trust you not to arrest some of the people who have been helping me with Matt. So I will get us close, call them to bug out, and then give you the exact location."

 

Natasha seemed unsure but Coulson simply nodded as though that had been the plan all along.

 

"You had best sit down. I can't guarantee a smooth take off," Natasha said and Tony stared a bit. Usually, Natasha was a bit cool towards them with the times they had been able to get her to relax and banter with them counted on one hand but just then she had sounded down right annoyed. Glancing between the two Tony saw that Clint was smirking and obviously baiting Natasha while Natasha was stiff and just as obviously unsure of the archer.

 

"Don't worry. Nothing this thing can do will be able to get me off my perch," Hawkeye told her. She seemed annoyed by this but after a moment she started take off procedure.

 

Tony shared another look with Bruce as the quinjet shuddered, bounced, and dipped as they took off but both of them wisely kept their mouths shut as the quinjet dipped sharply to the left and Natasha glanced back at a smirking Clint who was still firmly perched on his seat back. Tony caught Cap's eye but the man merely shrugged slightly while Bucky shook his head as though to say he was having none of the craziness. Coulson seemed completely unconcerned by the uncharacteristically bumpy take off as he continued to look over a report in his lap. Finally the two scientists traded another resigned look before they started working on a treatment for Matt, leaving the two assassins to work out whatever they were doing on their own.

 

 

 

Steve sighed softly as he glanced over at the two assassins who were throwing random bits of things at each other. He had been worried at first that the throwing match would escalate into something dangerous but thankfully the two seemed content to throw the random bit of paper. Clint seemed to be enjoying the game while Natasha simply seemed annoyed by the archer's childishness and Steve was reminded sharply of the times Bucky had tried to get his older sister's attention.

 

The picture of Clint as a five year old putting mud in ten year old Natasha's shoes almost made him laugh but thankfully he stiffled the urge quickly but not before Bucky was giving him a quizzical look. In answer to Bucky's silent question Steve drew a quick sketch of his thought complete with the child like depictions then gestured descretely at the two in question. Bucky glanced between the picture and assassins before a wide grin spread across his face and the man was pressing his face into Steve's shoulder to stifle his laughter.

 

Looking up he noticed Phil and the others giving them a questioning look and with a guilty look he handed the drawing to Phil who glanced at it before looking at the two in the front of the plane and cracking a smile. The two scientists exchanged a look before rising in unison to look at the drawing. The men were just starting to look when something flipped over their heads and landed behind Phil's chair with the sketch book in hand. Clint made a show of examining the cartoon before shaking his head.

 

"Captain, captain, captain. Drawing in class really. What do you think, Widow," the man asked as he threw the sketchbook expertly to Natasha who looked startled but at an encouraging nod from Clint looked over the cartoon Steve had drawn. She seemed uncertain what to make of the drawing and Steve was struck once more with the idea that this woman had had a very hard life where play was almost unheard of.

 

"Personally, I think the dimensions are all wrong. I mean really is my head that big," Clint drawled as he strolled up beside Natasha and held his hand out for the sketch book. Natasha considered the archer before finally handing the book over with a flippant "I don't know Hawkeye. It seems spot on. After all where else would you put that big ego?"

 

The tone of her voice might have been flippant but Steve didn't miss the way she glanced around to see if she had acted correctly nor the way the tension left the muscles of her back as Clint staggered back as though mortally wounded and gasped "Ouch, Widow, that hurt. That hurt a lot."

 

"Good god, what are you part circus monkey," Tony groused as he came out of his shock and snatched the book back from Clint who let it go easily.

 

"Half right, Stark," Clint snarked easily "Not monkey but circus certainly."

 

"What," Tony asked and Steve saw that even Coulson was paying strict attention now.

 

"I would have thought it would have been in the file you have on me," Clint said with an easy shrug as he vaulted back onto his perch on the chair back "I lived with a traveling circus from the time I was seven to the time I was fifteen. I learned to shoot there and did the high wire and trapeze. It is even where I got my name, the Amazing Hawkeye."

 

Clint did a quick tumble along the chair backs before doing a split which had most of the men in the room wincing in sympathy.

 

"Actually, we were a little fuzzy on your childhood. We knew you disappeared from foster care after your parents' deaths but we couldn't find anything substantial after that," Phil told Clint as he studied the man like a fascinating puzzle.

 

"O' well. Not important now," Clint shrugged the information then added "Widow, turn 8 degrees to the west. We will be landing in five minutes. Coordinates are here."

 

Steve blinked as Clint threw a quickly constructed paper plane to Natasha who caught it deftly and unfolded it one handed. Natasha glanced at the archer then changed course without a word after exchanging a look with Phil.

 

Without another word, Clint took a phone out of his pocket and Steve realized with a start that it was a new Stark phone just as Tony shouted "Hey, that is mine."

 

"Still is. Just borrowing," Clint said with a shrug while holding the phone to his ear.

"Yeah, it is Hawkeye. I am bringing company. Clear everyone out," Clint said into the phone then frowned as he listened intently for a moment.

 

"No, we are only 4 minutes out. You don't need to stay. Get out of there," Clint said then scowled as he listened before saying "Listen to me. Get out of there. This is SHIELD, do you want to end up in the deepest, darkest cell they have."

 

A pause then Clint said in relief "Good, I will contact you later."

 

Clint ended the call then tossed the phone back to Tony who caught it.

 

"Is there any point to me tracing that," Tony asked and Clint shrugged.

 

"Knock yourself out. It was a burner and is probably destroyed by now."

 

"What was that," Steve asked well aware of how Natasha and Phil had tensed during the exchange.

 

"Just warning the people I had helping me to get out of the area," Clint told them taking his perch on the back of the seat again.

 

"Why would you need to warn them," Steve started but was interrupted by Bruce "Wait, you mean Matt is alone right now! Someone in an induced coma must be monitored at all times. He could choke on his own saliva, he could..."

 

"I know all the risks," Clint told him his eyes hard and his expression grim.

 

"Then how the hell can you allow this," Bruce exclaimed.

 

"The people helping me won't leave until they are sure it is safe," Clint told them.

 

"There is no guarentees with this," Bruce argued.

 

"I know that," Clint gritted out then staring hard at Bruce he said in a calmer voice "They won't leave until we are in the building and will be monitoring him the whole time and that is the best I can do."

 

"I can't ask them to go to jail for this," Clint told them earnestly and Steve could understand the man's dilemma. He clearly wanted to protect his son with everything he had but at the same time he didn't want to betray the people who had helped him.

 

"I don't suppose if I asked for names I would get them," Coulson asked and at Clint's flat stare added "I might be able to get them pardons."

 

"Most of the people I work with couldn't be pardoned by the president of the United States," Clint said with a snort.

 

"But you trust them," Steve said then continued as the man opened his mouth to protest "You left your son with them and they are probably the people you leave Matt with when you are on missions. So you obviously trust them."

 

"No one has said I have good judgement," Clint told them as he jumped down from his perch to peer through the cockpit window.

 

"Land there, Widow."

 

Steve watched the man but resisted the urge to refute his statement in favor of looking over the small clearing Clint had directed Natasha to land at. A quick scan of the area didn't reveal anything except trees but as Steve looked more closely he noticed several straight lines among the trees that looked man made.

 

As soon as they were down Hawkeye was out and jogging toward an old building that had been concealed almost seamless by the trees from above.

 

"If you are coming, hurry up," Clint called and Steve automatically grabbed his shield to follow. Bucky was beside him instantly and he gave the other man a smile.

 

"This is foolish. This could all be a trap," Steve heard Natasha hiss to Coulson her tone disapproving.

 

"Yes, but I don't think it is. The man has too much to lose at this point," Coulson said but Steve could see the way he was scanning the area for signs of an ambush.

 

"He could be in league with Hydra," Natasha said but Phil shook his head.

 

"Hawkeye has a code. He wouldn't work with them."

 

Natasha cast a side-eyed look at Coulson but refrained from saying anything else as they arrived at the door Clint was impatiently waiting beside.

 

"Step where I step and don't touch anything. The whole top floor is booby trapped and you do not want to spring any of them," Clint told them simply before he unlocked the door with a key he produced from his belt and then typed a series of numbers into a keypad revealed by the door at the turning of his key.

 

Despite the doors aged appearance it opened without a sound and soon they were moving quietly through the building to a set of stairs hidden behind a door marked women's bathroom. The stairwell was dark but as soon as they were half way down Steve could see light from down below and soon everyone could see clearly as they came out into a large room. The room looked like it had once been used as a garage but it had been re-purposed sometime recently as an emergency medical facility.

 

Sitting by the far wall was a bed with a small figure laying on it hooked up to several machines while a black man in scrubs checked the monitors.

 

"What are you still doing here. I told you to bug out," Clint shouted as he moved quickly across the floor to the hospital bed where he took the small figure's hand in his while glaring at the man.

 

"I decided to stay to monitor Matt. The risks were too great if I just left without someone being here," the man told Clint simply but Steve didn't miss the resigned look he shot toward them. The man obviously thought he was about to get taken into custody and still he had stayed to help a person in need, Steve found himself admiring the unnamed man.

 

"Damn it, Wilson. You could have bugged out the back way. It would have been a gap of thirty seconds," Clint snapped.

 

"I couldn't," Wilson said simply then added in a softer voice "Clint, Matt has been having heart arthemia, whatever the stuff is it is progressing faster."

 

Clint stared at the other man eyes wide and face pale before he sank down to sit on the bed beside his son.

 

"He is stable for now but he can't be left alone," Wilson added placing a comforting hand on Clint's shoulder. Clint seemed completely lost as to what to say as he gently smoothed hair out of Matt's face.

 

"When did the arthemia start," Bruce stepped forward all business as he moved forward to meet Wilson.

 

"A little over two hours ago. We gave him medication but what we have is limited. I hope you have something that can help," Wilson said earnestly causing him to go up another notch in Steve's books. The man obviously really cared about his patient. He wondered what this man could have done that SHIELD would want to arrest him.

 

"We have an idea that might work but we would need a dialysis machine and a specialized electron magnet. We have both back at Tony's mansion," Bruce told the man. Wilson nodded then handed Bruce a set of files.

 

"This is all the information we have on Matt's case and the other cases," Wilson told Bruce before turning his attention to Phil who was watching the exchange with a speculative look. "I take it you will be taking me into custody."

 

"I have standing orders, too," Coulson said quietly. "You are Lieutenant Sam Wilson, 106th army unit, pararescue?"

 

"Yes, sir," Wilson said coming to an unconscious parade rest while Clint looked on with a pained expression.

 

"Wanted for desertion, sabotage, treason, aiding and abetting the enemy, disobeying orders, and murder of several of your fellow soldiers," Phil said and Steve whipped his head around to stare at the man before him trying to slot this new information with the picture of the man he had been building and failing.

 

"Yes, sir," Wilson said after taking a deep breath, obviously upset but his words strong and clear.

 

"That is all bullshit," Clint exclaimed "Sam didn't do any of that shit. He was framed by that crazy general, General Ross."

 

"Clint," Wilson hissed warningly but Coulson interrupted him "Explain."

 

"He doesn't know anything and isn't involved in this," Wilson said at the same time that Clint said heatedly "I was there when Ross and his men shot down Sam and his partner, Riley, in enemy territory and left them for dead. I also learned that Ross was gunning for them because they had seen something they shouldn't have and that they had tried to report it to their superior who was on Ross's payroll."

 

"Clint, shut up. You can be indicted for aiding and abetting," Sam told Clint angrily.

 

"They already got me for murder so what is a bit more," Clint snapped back.

 

"They don't care about that. You were killing criminals and they can use your skills but this they won't over look. Think of Matt. He needs his Dad," Sam argued and Clint glared back.

 

"Don't you dare use Matt as leverage...."

 

"Will you both be quiet," Bruce growled and everyone fell silent as the scientist's eyes flashed green. Steve winced as he remembered that General Ross had been the one in charge of Bruce's failed project and the man who had chased him around the globe in order to kill him or experiment on him; being reminded of the man couldn't have been pleasant.

 

"Phil, I need help stabilizing Matt for transport and while Tony might be brilliant he knows less than nothing about patient care so I will need Wilson. Clint, you are not in charge anymore, your only job at the moment is to be there for Matt," Bruce told them after taking a deep breath to calm himself.

 

"No, Clint," Bruce added when it looked like Clint might protest "I know it is hard but trust us. We will do everything we can to get Matt better but you need to just focus on being there for him. And Phil will not be arresting anyone till after he has investigated everything fully."

 

The last was said with a pointed look at Phil who simply nodded "I already had questions about the warrant, Doctor Banner, and would be pleased to investigate it further."

 

"Good," Bruce said then asked Sam "Mr. Wilson, would you mind helping me hook Matt up to a portable ventilator that we brought."

 

At once the two men were moving in sync to get Matt ready for transport while the rest of them were left to watch and wait. Noticing the lost look on Clint's face, Steve placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and when the man looked up, gave him what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

 

"I know it is tough but he is in good hands," Steve assured him "We will do everything we can to help him."

 

The man was still and silent under his hand for a moment as he went back to studying his son.

 

"I know you will do everything you can to help but...," Clint paused as he gently rubbed the back of Matt's hand. "But if it is too late...."

 

"He is still fighting," Steve told him knowing the words to be lacking but having nothing else to offer the worried man.

 

"Yeah, he has always been a fighter," Clint murmured softly. They lapsed into silence as they waited for the signal to load Matt onto the Quinjet.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Finally we get to meet Sam and Matt.

 

 

 

 


	11. Relief

Enjoy!!

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

Tony fiddled once more with the settings on the electrical magnet making sure that the polarity was set right. The nano capsules were technically neutral in charge but with the varying magnetic field that this electric magnet produced they would hopefully be able to force an electrical charge on the 'latching' mechanism of the nano capsules enabling them to filter the capsules from Matt's blood. The procedure wouldn't eliminate any of the toxin that had already been released into Matt's system but hopefully it would stop anymore from being released.

 

The only flaw in their plan was that they were worried by shifting the charge on the capsules they might cause them to release their contents hence why they were using the blood filtration system. Small amounts of Matt's blood could be filtered of the capsules at a time and they could ensure that the toxin was not being released by regular testing but everything depended on the settings being exactly right.

 

Tony started to reach for the controls once more but stopped himself as he saw that his hand was shaking slightly. Without conscious thought he glanced over to Matt's hospital bed and marveled once more at the seeming frailty of the child lying within it.

 

Tony had not dealt with many children since he himself was a child, children weren't really a fixture of the jet setting lifestyle he had lived. Those children that he had had contact with were show children like he had been when he was a child; children that were meant to take over companies or meant to impress investors but not to play or be coddled and only given the most distant of affection. Honestly, he had never seen any of the parents he had known gaze at their children with half the love and caring that Clint showed to Matt. Those parents eyes had been pleased, as anyone would be when a performing animal did a trick but nothing else unless a mistake had been made. Howard's eyes had been pleased until Tony screwed up and then they had just held anger, shame, and disappointment. Tony wondered how Matt could stand a father who loved him so much, didn't he worry every day that he would screw up and lose that love. If Howard had actually looked at him like that Tony would have been a nervous wreck as he tried to be perfect in order to keep that look directed at him.

 

Tony clenched his fist in order to distract himself from his thoughts and moved away from the electrical magnet at last. With a nod at Bruce he signaled that everything was ready and felt his heart clench as Bruce turned on the dialysis machine and started the slow process of filtering Matt's blood.

 

'I should have performed one more check,' Tony thought nervously as the red blood ran from Matt's arm through the current of the electrical magnet several times before flowing into the dialysis machine. The machine hummed to life as it tested the blood using x-ray defraction and uploaded the results to Jarvis for analysis. A moment later a green light on the machine flashed and the red of Matt's blood flowed back into a vein in Matt's leg.

 

The group in the room held their breathes for the space of a second before Clint leaned his head down over where he was clutching Matt's hand and they could all see the man's shoulder's shaking. Tony glanced up in a panic to meet Bruce's eyes and urge him to do something but Bruce seemed as bewildered as him. Phil simply blinked a moment and Tony was a bit shocked that Agent Agent didn't have a plan but his own panic took away his momentary desire to gloat. Everyone seemed stymied by the turn of events and uncertain how to help the man in front of them and Tony cursed the fact that Steve had needed to stay with Bucky so that he didn't freak upon seeing all the medical equipment. Steve or even Bucky would have been better at this than any of them.

 

'Yeah, for our shitty and emotional stunting childhoods,' Tony thought sarcastically as he saw that even Natasha was stumped as to what to do. Thankfully Sam naturally stepped forward and laid a comforting hand on Clint's shoulder until the other man was able to sit back and rub vigorously at his face.

 

"Sorry, just it has been a lot," Clint said as he continued to gently hold Matt's hand.

 

"No worries, man," Sam said easily only honest understanding in his voice.

 

"Umm," Bruce started uncertainly before pausing as Clint looked up at him his face still tear streaked and Tony literally saw the way Bruce melted at the look in the archer's eyes.

 

"It will take several hours for the machine to get all of the nano capsules out of Matt's system but within the first hour we should see the nano levels dccrease by seventy-five percent or more which should put him out of the danger zone of the toxin causing any lasting adverse affects," Bruce told the other man earnestly before smiling in answer to Clint's relieved smile.

 

'O' Bruce, you have a crush on a bad boy,' Tony thought with a pang. Bruce just had to be crushing on a guy that was likely straight (see Matt as exhibit a) and who probably would be bored to death with any science talk (Bruce's passion).

 

Tony was just opening his mouth to say something that would likly get him shot or flattened by the Hulk when Agent Agent's phone went off.

 

The frown Phil directed at his phone upon seeing the caller ID had everyone on edge and the tension only ratcheted up when Phil answered and before he could speak another voice was speaking over the phone. Tony was unable to make out the words but from the grim set of Phil's face whatever was being said could not have been good.

 

"Understood. Delay it as long as you can," Phil said simply then hung up before sweeping his eyes over the group.

 

"All Avengers barring Dr. Banner are to suit up and meet on the landing pad where we parked the quinjet. I will brief you on the way."

 

"Move now," Phil barked when Tony and Bruce continued to blink blankly at the Agent even after Natasha had already taken off at a sprint.

 

Without a moments more hesitation Tony was moving to suit up but not before he heard Phil order Bruce to move Matt and everyone else down to the secret nuclear fallout shelter under the mansion. Tony felt his heart sink through his stomach as he realized exactly how bad things must have been if Phil were giving that order.

 

 

 

 

Sam stared at the retreating backs of the Avengers and their handler before he looked over to Clint who gave him a quick serious of hand signs while Dr. Banner was turned away preparing to move Matt.

 

' _Contact the underground. Find out what is going on_ ,' Clint signed and Sam nodded as he discretely shot off a text message. Moments later his phone pinged and he nearly dropped it in shock before numbly handing it to Clint. Clint's eyebrows went up as he read the brief message.

 

" _ **Something big going down at SHIELD. Going to ground. You should, too.**_ _ **GL**_."

 

There underground contact in the states wasn't known for backing down from anything and usually made himself known when shit hit the fan if only so that he could make a profit, Sam had never known him to hide from a conflict.

 

" _What do you think_ ," Sam signed.

 

Clint looked at him then looked long and hard at Matt before seeming to come to a hard decision.

 

" _I think they will need help_ ," Clint flicked through the signs quickly his jaw set " _We get Matt undercover then I split off and head to SHIELD to see if I can help the Avengers with whatever this is_."

 

" _WE head to SHIELD_ ," Sam signed back.

 

" _No, I need someone to distract Bruce_ ," Clint signed back scowling.

 

"I think you should have thought about that before spelling out your plan," Dr. Banner said mildly as he stared between the two of them.

 

In any other situation Sam would have howled with laughter when Clint fell out of his chair in shock at the good doctor's words but as it was he filed the memory away for blackmail as Bruce stared down at the archer and said calmly "You realize I was a doctor in a lot of poor areas where some of my patients could only speak using ASL, right."

 

Yep, the sight of Clint Barton staring gape mouthed at a bemused Bruce Banner was so being used as blackmail later. Maybe he could get Jarvis to let him have the video if they all managed to survive.

 

* * *

 

 

:D

 

 

 


	12. To the Rescue

An update sooner than expected.

 

* * *

 

 

Bucky stared down at his hands as Agent Coulson explained that a Senator Pierce had led an assualt on SHIELD headquarters and managed to barricade himself and a handful of Hydra agents within the Project Insight facility while another larger group of Hydra agents was slowly pushing the loyal SHIELD agents from the Triskelion . Fury was trying to stop the launch with a group of loyal SHIELD agents but from the last message Coulson had received it appeared they were being reduced to trying to keep the launch bay doors from opening without much success.

 

"The situation is not ideal but if we work as a team we have a chance of stopping the Helicarriers from launching," Coulson told them quietly as he looked at each of them searchingly. From beside him Steve nodded minutely at the SHIELD agent but Bucky glanced away from the older man's eyes for a moment unsure whether he could fight or not. A large, warm hand landed gently on his shoulder and he glanced up hesitantly at Steve sure that he would see disappointment in his eyes but was instead met with a gentle understanding.

 

"Buck, you don't need to fight if you don't want to. I know this is not easy for you and if you are not ready then that is fine. If you are never ready then that is also fine," Steve told him softly. The clear understanding in Steve's voice along with the undisguised affection had Bucky gulping back the tightness in his throat. Quickly, before he could break down, he glanced down to the floor. He knew they didn't have time for him to have a break down but despite the fight looming ever closer the others remained silent allowing him to consider his decision.

 

Finally he got control of his breathing and turning to Agent Coulson he nodded firmly that he was in. A large part of him didn't want to fight, he had caused far too much pain in his years under Hydra's control and he did not want to cause more, but another larger part of him knew that the team needed him. Surprisingly, as he made the decision he felt a weight lift from his shoulders and knew that he had made the right choice.

 

"We will be coming onto the Triskelion grounds from the south-west which should put us close to the launch bays. Tony, you are going out first to distract them so that we can get Steve and Bucky close enough to one of the helicarriers to allow him to board. After that we will be able to get Natasha onto another carrier, Tony will take care of the third while I provides air support," Coulson told them quietly as he handed Steve, Natasha, and Tony small boxes. Bucky frowned at the assignments knowing that he was being paired with Steve in order to ensure that if he had a break down Steve would be able to talk him down but not seeing any way around it. While mentally he was better than he was a few months ago he could not delude himself into thinking he was actually mentally ready to take on a mission like this without Steve's help.

 

"These boxes contain three chips that need to be placed within the main computer of the helicarriers. These chips will reset the helicarrier computers so that all weapon systems are targeted at the other helicarriers. If for some reason the chips fail then the next target on the helicarriers are the engine rooms. There are three engine rooms: two on the sides of the craft and one at the tail end," Coulson explained as he brought up a rough drawn schematic of the carriers. "These plans may not be fully accurate as Director Fury drew them from memory so be prepared to improvise."

 

"Coulson, we will be within range in under thirty seconds,"Natasha announced softly from where she was piloting the quinjet. Without another word the two SHIELD agents switched positions so that Coulson could take over the controls for the quinjet. Looking through the window Bucky felt his muscles tense as he saw that at least two of the helicarriers were beginning to rise into the air with the third just barely starting to clear the launch bay doors which seemed to have been jammed by a group of people on the ground. As Bucky watched the group of people that were attempting to jam the final bay droors were pushed back by another group of armed people and the last helicarrier began its ascent.

 

"Heading in. Prepare for deployment," Coulson called evenly as he easily piloted the quinjet toward the nearest helicarrier. Gun fire rang out around the quinjet and Bucky located several planes launching off the decks of the helicariiers as they approached. Heart beating fast he caught Steve's eye and nodded briefly to let him know he was ready and received a proud grin back. Without another word the two of them made their way to the back doors of the quinjet where Tony was just launching from, the Ironman suit a bright streak of red and gold as the inventor flew to head off the incoming air craft.

 

The quinjet abruptly jumped up as Coulson manuvered them to avoid a projectile and moments later a large shock wave made the jet jump and tremble as whatever had tried to hit them exploded uncomfortably near them. Bucky swallowed and forced himself to take a deep calming breath as the deck of one of the helicarrier's loomed below them and without a word he and Steve moved as one to jump.

 

Wind whipped his hair up into his face and for a brief moment he almost missed his old mask but then shuddered as the idea of having that thing on again. Pushing the nausea away he landed with a thud and immediately he was noting where Steve had landed before they were both moving for cover under a rain of bullets.

 

Bucky ducked behind a plane and glanced to Steve who had ducked behind another plane. Scouting the area where the gunfire was coming from he saw six people, looking to Steve he signaled the number of shooters and saw Steve nod his understanding before the man was flashing the signal for Bucky to follow. Bucky groaned as Steve broke cover and raced toward the Hydra agents but dutifully followed his friend's lead. As Steve threw his Shield in order to take out a Hydra agent on top of a plane, leaving himself wide open to enemy fire, Bucky made a mental note to teach Steve what self preservation meant. Without hesitation Bucky pushed the punk to the side and using his metal arm as a shield kept the bullets off of them as he shot three of the Hydra agents in quick succession. The remaining agents were shortly taken down by Steve's shield as he sent it careening through the air.

 

"Clear," Steve announced as they scanned the area on deck and moments later Bucky announced his sector as clear.

 

"Ready," Steve asked quietly as they stood beside the door leading into the bowels of the ship. Bucky stared at his friend before simply nodding. He had followed the punk into hell once before what was one more trip?

 

 

 

 

 

Phil watched for a moment as Steve and Bucky landed before pulling away from the first helicarrier and moving toward the next in line. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as Natasha double checked her widow bites and other equipment and wished once more that Thor was here. He knew Natasha could more than take care of herself in any fight but he hated dropping her into an unknown situation without backup but he refused to let his worry show as he announced "Fifteen seconds till we are within the launch window."

 

A blast of gunfire assualted them as they approached the helicarrier and Phil spotted where a Hydra agent had manged to get one of the turret guns working. Phil thanked their lucky stars that most of the turret guns that were meant for the helicarriers had not been installed yet as he brought the quinjets own guns to bare. A quick spray of automatic fire took care of the turret and he brought the quinjet low over the helicarrier before opening the bay doors once more.

 

Natasha nodded to him before launching herself out the doors and landing gracefully on the helicarrier's deck. Phil noticed with relief that she was immediately up and running and within moments she was safely concealed within the helicarriers depths just as a Hydra team made its way up on deck and took aim at the quinjet. Without hesitation Phil manuvered the quinjet to bring its weapons to bare and managed to scatter the Hydra team.

 

Phil scanned the area quickly noting that Tony was manuvering in for a landing on his own helicarrier while dodging gunfire and quickly he turned to provide Tony with some cover fire. He managed to take out a few planes that were heading in Tony's direction before he was forced to break off as a squadron targeted the quinjet.

 

Phil cursed mentally as he realized that the squadron tailing him was actually working well together and trying to box him in so that the remaining members of the squadron could get a clean shot. He gripped the flight controls hard as he wondered bitterly if he knew who was behind the planes' controls and if maybe he had actually been the one to train the traitors.

 

With a wrenching motion he managed to dodge the plane that had been attempting to box him in and hummed in pleasure as he saw the missile that had been meant for him blow up the plane he had dodged but moments later he was cursing again as he saw that the squadron was breaking off and heading back toward the helicarriers to provide backup there. Phil wondered what had caught their attention but moments later his question was answered as part of a lower bulk head on one of the carriers exploded outward and a minute later Natasha was jumping out of the opening.

 

Phil felt his heart skip a beat as he saw his charge falling before he saw Natasha grab the edge of the helicarrier and watched as she began to climb quickly along the side of the carrier. The planes that had been pursuing Phil apparently had spotted her also as they began moving in that direction with their guns already coming to bare.

 

"Damn it," Phil cursed as he shot the quinjet forward and slammed into one of the planes hard. The impact sent the plane off course and into one of its fellows while the quinjet jerked off course before Phil righted it with an effort and forced the shuddering craft forward to collide with the wings of two of the remaining aircraft. Phil noted with satisfaction that the planes had sustained major damage but didn't have a chance to note anything else as the impacts sent the quinjet tumbling. Phil fought hard to right the quinjet but quickly realized that the jet had been too badly damaged and that he would have to bail out. Staggering as the quinjet tumbled through the air, Phil managed to grab one of the parachutes in the emergency lockers and barely had time to strap it on before he felt something in the craft break further with a terrible wrenching sensation. Without waiting another moment Phil flung open the emergency exit and jumped as far as he could away from the damaged jet praying that he would be able to get far enough away that he would not be caught by any debree from the quinjet.

 

Luckily he managed to jump free and he watched as the jet spun away from him before he deftly opened his parachute. The sound of an engine had him turning and grimly he watched as the last plane he had not managed to down glided toward him its guns locked on him and with a start he recognized Agent Dovers in the cockpit. Phil glanced around him for a possible means of escape but knew he was a sitting duck up there and taking a deep breath he waited for the killing shot as he glared at Dovers, refusing to let the man see him panic.

 

He had time to see Dovers' eyes crinkle in a smile before the breath was being knocked from him as something hit him hard from above. Suddenly his parchute was flying free as someone cut the lines. Phil wondered for a wild moment if Tony had finished with his helicarrier and managed to rescue him but he immediately realized that the arms wrapped around him were flesh and blood and not the Ironman armor. With a growl he started to reach around to attack his unknown assiliant but a worried voice stopped.

 

"Agent Coulson, are you alright?"

 

"Mr. Wilson," Phil asked surprised and turned slightly in the arms holding him around the chest to see Clint's friend staring back at him through a pair of aviator glasses.

 

"Sam is fine," the man told him cheerfully but the whizzing of gunfire around them interrupted him.

 

"Hold on," Wilson said just before he dived down suddenly leaving Phil's stomach hanging somewhere fifty feet above them.

 

Phil wanted to ask where the other man had come from and where he had gotten the wings that he was currently using but decided that his questions could wait for another time as they continued to dodge the plane tailing them.

 

"Man, I am ready anytime you are," Wilson, Sam, hissed above him and Phil wondered if he were talking to him and if so what he expected him to do but moments later Phil heard a small explosion behind them. Phil carefully looked behind them and saw that flames were licking out of the side of the plane that had been trailing them and as he watched the flames expanded causing an explosion which blew apart the entire plane. The shock waves from the explosion tumbled them through the air and Phil felt Sam's arms tighten around him as the other man fought to hold on to him. Phil linked his arms with the other man's in order to help and remembered to breath as Sam got them straightened out.

 

"Do you think you can turn around and link your arms through my harness," Sam asked and instead of answering Phil deftly flipped around and wove his arms through the harness.

 

"Great," Sam said then flipped them around so that they were heading toward the ground. Phil noted that Sam was aiming to land behind the line where the SHIELD agents were battling and with a hand gesture Phil pointed him to where he could see Nick directing the agents around him.

 

Nick and the other agents immediately zeroed in on them as they came into land, their weapons drawn but Nick waved them away as he saw Phil.

 

"Finally decided to join the party, I see," Nick snarked causing Phil to give the other man a bland look as he untangled himself from Sam's harness.

 

"I was a bit busy escorting some last minute guests, sir," Phil said calmly back making Nick snort as the left side of his mouth curved up in a reluctant grin.

 

"Well, let's hope your guests know their stuff," Nick rejoined and Phil glanced up as another explosion sounded from above them and they watched as fire bloomed briefly out from the helicarrier Tony had been assigned.

 

"I think they will do," Phil told him with a smile as Nick handed him a gun.

 

"Sir, I should really get back up there," Sam said as he looked up toward the fighting happening high above them. As Phil watched another explosion rocked one of the enemy aircraft that had been making a move toward the agents on the ground and Phil frowned wondering what had caused the explosion before he noted several Hydra agents lying out on the tarmac with arrows through them.

 

"Go," Fury growled at the young man and Wilson didn't wait another moment before he was taking off back into the fight.

 

As they watched one of the remaining helicarrier turret guns angled toward Wilson before an arrow hit it and it exploded. Phil exchanged a look with Nick before they turned back to the fighting on the ground feeling a bit more hopeful.

 

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Hope you guys enjoy! I think a few more chapters should finish this up.

 


	13. Helicarrier Trouble

Sorry for the late chapters but I hope you enjoy.

 

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The wind rushed by her as she climbed quickly along the outside of the helicarrier. The sound of the planes heading her way spurred her on but she knew she would never make the enclosure on the underside of the helicarrier before they were in range. The sound of crunching metal near her had her glancing briefly over her shoulder and what she saw made her heart plummet; Coulson was deliberately crashing the quinjet into the planes that had been coming after her. She allowed herself to stare for a half second more as her mentor sacrificed himself to give her a chance to escape before she forced her muscles to unlock. Flipping forward she grabbed the edge of an emergency exit and after quickly judging the distance and wind sheer allowed herself to drop down several feet and allow the wind to push her under the helicarrier where the observation deck was.

 

Spreading her arms and legs she allowed the wind to catch her and push her against the glass of the observation deck. The impact against the glass knocked the breath out of her and for a moment her vision went black as the pain and shock of the impact nearly made her black out but with an effort she grasped onto one of the metal struts on the outside of the observation room and tried to breath. The fierce wind kept stealing her breath from her until finally she was able to duck her head under her chest and use her body as a wind break. For a moment she allowed herself to just breathe before she carefully took out her glass cutting tools and set to work.

 

The glass around the control room was thick and bullet proof and she was barely half-way through it when she heard the sound of an engine closing in on her position. Glancing down and to her right she grimaced as she saw a plane heading her way with weapons coming around to lock on her position. Cursing silently she took in her options, realizing quickly that there was no cover for her on the belly of the helicarrier and that it would take much too long for her to climb back up to the hole she had created. Briefly she considered wedging one of the charges she still carried into the cuts in the glass she had made but rejected the idea quickly as the blast would undoubtedly knock her off her precarious perch.

 

Natasha stared at the oncoming plane and slammed the hilt of her knife hard against the cuts she had been making in the glass. The glass held and she cursed as she prepared to fight for her life once more but before the plane could get within range a shape dove out of the sky past the plane. Natasha cocked her head as she saw the small device the shape had slapped onto the side of the plane then smirked as she flattened herself further against the helicarrier just as the bomb exploded. Glancing up she watched as the flaming plane spiraled down into the river far below them.

 

Movement below her and to the left caught her attention and she watched as a man with mechanical wings moved up beside her. She blinked, relaxing slightly from her guarded position, as the man smiled brightly at her as he pushed up his googles.

 

Sam Wilson hovered beside her as he asked "So you need a lift?"

 

Natasha simply raised an eyebrow before shrugging nonchalently and asking "Wouldn't hurt. How do you want me?"

 

She was fully expecting the man to either blush and stammer at her endueno or to flirt back but what she was not expecting was the business like appraisal.

 

"How good is your grip strength," he asked and at her raised eyebrow he laughed before adding "Then all we need to do is set enough explosives in the area you have already weakened and set them off once we are far enough away not to get caught in the blast. Then I just fly us back into the newly created door."

 

Natasha doubted seriously that the plan would go half that easily but despite the awkward way that Wilson had to carry her (front to front apparently works best since it allows both of them to get a good grip even if it does cause Wilson to blush) everything goes smoothly and moments after the fires from the explosions were starting to die down Wilson was flying them through the shattered dome and onto the solid floor of the control room.

 

"Well that wasn't so bad," Wilson murmured as he glanced around the room easily spotting the computer bank in its center. The words were barely out of his mouth when Natasha heard the sound of booted feet storming toward them and she spared a moment to glare daggers at Wilson who stared back guiltily.

 

"You just had to say it," Natasha snarked as she readied her widow bites.

 

"That is a lot of guards," Wilson said in surprise as they each ducked behind a support column. He looked to her questioningly "What do you want to do? I could fly us back out."

 

Natasha barely restrained herself from rolling her eyes, she was not about to subject herself to that indignity again any time soon, and beside there were only eight or so guards.

 

Catching Wilson's eyes she deftly tossed him the box containing the computer chips.

 

"They are labeled, just put them in their assigned slots," Natasha told him evenly "I will take care of these guys."

 

Wilson looked like he wanted to protest but Natasha ignored him as she broke cover by flipping off the support Wilson was hiding behind and taking out the guard that had been trying to sneak up on them. With a crack the man laid still and Natasha was moving on to her next target.

 

Faintly from behind her she heard "Right, you got this....I will just go do the computer stuff."

 

A slight smirk curled her lips at the admiration she heard in his voice and if her next flip was unnecessarily flashy she would dare anyone to call her on it.

 

 

 

 

 

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	14. One Last Matter to Take Care of

Tony finished inserting the last of the microchips then stepped over the bodies of the guards as he made his way back through the hole he had blasted into the observation to get in in the first place.

"JARVIS, any word how the rest of the team are doing," Tony asked as he soared up and casually took out a plane that had been gunning for him.

"Captain Rogers and Sergenant Barnes encountered a slight problem when one of the hydra operatives tried using a control phrase on Sergenant Barnes. While the triggers used were not effective the incident shook Sergenant Barnes confidence," Jarvis reported with a hint of concern in his voice.

Tony winced at the imagery that brought up but was glad that Steve had been there to stop Hydra from capturing Bucky again.

"Sir, may I suggest that you move to the second helicarrier as I believe Captain Rogers and Sergenant Barnes are planning on jumping into the river before the helicarriers destroy each other," JARVIS informed him dryly and Tony cursed those idiots roundly as he moved quickly.

"JARVIS patch me through to those two idiots," Tony groused as he caught sight of the two super soldiers who were obivously about to jump.

"Hey, I know it may have been a bit before your time but we now have this thing called a comm, you can call for...oh, I don't know a lift down to the ground, instead of jumping from an aircraft hundreds of feet up in the air into a freezing cold river," Tony snarked as he hovered in front of the two men and to emphasize his point he crossed his arms and tried his best to project his disapproval despite having the mask still down. The gesture lost some of its impact though when a gust of wind over blanced him and he had to quickly use the hand repulsors to keep himself from going into a dive.

Bucky at least had the decency to look a little guilty but Steve, the not so little shit, simply seemed puzzled.

"Tony, we have made this kind of dive before and besides we couldn't take you away from where you were needed," Steve told him but didn't protest as Tony threw each man a cable that he took out from a compartment in the suit. The cables were attached securely to the suit and within moments Tony was flying both super-soldiers down to the ground.

"What about Natasha," Steve called just as a shape flashed passed them and then turned to face them. Tony actually pulled up as he blinked stupidly at Natasha hanging from beneath a bewinged Sam Wilson. Natasha merely cocked an eyebrow at her stunned team mates before shouting up at Wilson "Do you think you could land us near where the SHIELD agents are still fighting with Hydra?"

"Can do," Wilson answered with a smile and Tony watched still in shock as the man swooped away toward where the fighting was still going strong.

"What was that," he asked plantively but neither of his passengers seemed to know either and with a mental shrug Tony followed the winged figure. From behind him Tony heard the sounds of multiple explosions going off and turned just in time to see the helicarriers going up in a blaze of glory.

"Now that is a pretty sight," Tony said happily and from under him he noted the pleased smiles that the two super soldiers exchanged.

"Well, Tony I think we have a bit more cleanup to do," Steve called with a grin and Tony couldn't help but laugh as he swung back around toward where the fighting was still strong. Hydra had made a big mistake when they decided to challenge the Avengers.

 

 

Steve dropped lightly down to the ground well behind the barrier that the SHIELD agents were manning and felt the ground jump slightly as Bucky landed beside him. Glancing to his best friend he winced internally as he saw the blank way Bucky was starring back at him, his friend having retreated behind his Winter Soldier training after the Hydra scientist had tried to turn him against them with a set of trigger words he had read from a book.

The muscles of his jaw clenched as he remembered the absolute fear that had flooded Bucky's eyes as he had realized what the man had been trying to do and then he hadn't remembered much of anything. Bucky had had to pull him off the man's body and his fists still shook with the desire to hurt the man, to make sure that neither he nor anyone else could hurt Bucky again. It had been Bucky who had picked up the book, his hands trembling as he held it before he had passed it to Steve. Steve had been dumbfounded at the trust being shown to him and had wanted to refuse, to give Bucky back this piece of himself somehow, but when he looked into Bucky's eyes and saw the trust and need there he had simply nodded, tucking the book into an inner pocket of his uniform. The book would help them make sure that there were no more lingering triggers for Bucky.

Pushing his thoughts to the back of his mind he scanned the area and blinked once in surprise as he noted the number of Hydra agents littering the ground with arrows embedded in their bodies. He frowned briefly as he realized that Wilson had not been the only one who had followed them. He really wanted to order Hawkeye back to the manor so that he could be there in case Matt woke up but he had to admit that Hawkeye certainly had come in handy in this fight. Without his help the Hydra agents might have been able to push the SHIELD agents back further and launch enough planes to have seriously hindered them.

Fury turned to them as they jogged up to him raising an eyebrow in question, obviously wondeirng if they had succeeded, but at that moment the sound of multiple explosions reached them and they watched with satisfaction as fire bloomed along the sides of the helicarriers.

"I see you succeeded. We are wrapping up here," Fury told them "Reinforcements just arrived from off-site and we are slowly pushing the Hydra agents back."

Steve nodded then froze as he heard a faint whistling before he caught something small moving fast out of the corner of his eye and then an arrow was embedding into a car they had been using as cover, a small capsule secured to it. Bucky scowled at the arrow before reaching forward and pulling the arrow free with a wrenching sound. He handed the arrow to Steve before lifting a hand deliberately into the air and raising his middle finger toward the direction the arrow had come from, moments later another arrow bloomed where the first had hit and Bucky pulled it out again. Bucky rolled his eyes as he saw the smiley face with the tongue sticking out scrawled on the arrow shaft but Steve saw the way that his mouth quirked up in a smile and Steve repressed his own smile as he clicked open the capsule to find a note.

'Hydra agents are up to something to your west, near main building. Outside my range. Second group is moving heavy equipment by the boat docks. Moving position to see what they are up to. Ones by the main building are yours.' Hawkeye's messy scrawl informed him and Steve immediately scowled as he searched the area around where the note came from hoping to spot the archer and stop Hawkeye from going without backup.

"Captain," Fury asked and Steve handed him the note.

"I can send a team to back him up when the reinforcements arrive but they are still ten minutes out," Fury told them grimly as he handed the note back to Steve.

Steve stared down at the note pensively before finally shaking his head.

"No," Steve told them "He sounds like he is going in just to observe and even your best team would draw to much attention. I think we should send Natasha instead. She is the best on the team at stealth and can radio us if anything goes wrong."

He wasn't completely happy about the decision but he didn't want to split their forces and risk them being overwhelmed so it was better to allow Natasha and Clint to scout out the Hydra agents at the dock and radio them if they were needed to stop the traitors. He caught Natasha's eye and saw her give a small nod before she was moving away into the shadows. He shook his head with a faint smile as he lost sight of her and was glad that he had people he could trust to help him. Meeting Sam's eyes he motioned him forward before grilling him on what he was capable of in the flight suit so that he could plan the best course of attack.


	15. A Final Battle

Sorry for the wait. I am trying to find edit the ending but am not finding the time. Hopefully the next couple of weeks will be a bit better.

 

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Leaves brushed her side gently as a breeze rushed through the tiny strand of woods she had chosen to hide in as she scouted the area around the docks keeping a sharp eye out for the Hydra operatives as she looked for Hawkeye.The sound of voices had her slipping silently through the slight undergrowth until she was peering out onto the shore of the river where the SHIELD issue water craft were housed. Outside the SHIELD boat dock several people, Hydra by the sounds of their conversation, were gathered, acting as security as several people used the small cranes that were usually used to lift the water craft out of the water to load crates on to a waiting submersible.

 

Natasha watched the Hydra operatives work for a few minutes, catching snatches of conversation here and there but not enough to figure out what was in the crates before going completely still as a piece of wood lands right beside her. Moving only her eyes she examined the piece of sun bleached wood then darting a glance at Hydra to assure herself that they had not spotted her allowed her eyes to roam the area around her. At first her eyes slid across the old lifeguard tower further down the beach, a legacy of the 1920s when the beach had been a public swimming area before SHIELD had bought the land in the late 1940s, as being too delapidated and clearly so unsafe as to keep even the most foolhardy from attempting to climb it but then her eyes scittered back as she realized that that had been a pair of eyes peering at her over the rotting leadge of the tower.

 

'Clearly a talented fool will try anything,' she thought sarcastically as she met Hawkeye's eyes and watched as he gestured toward a clump of trees then held up five fingers. Natasha found the need to roll her eyes at the man almost overwhelming but with an effort she merely inclined her head and started silently making her way to the clump of trees all the while wondering how Hawkeye was going to get down from the tower without breaking his neck or bringing the tower down around him like a particularly hazardous Jinga puzzle.

 

Minutes later she was crouched in the indicated clump of trees watching the Hydra agents as they continued to load the crates onto the sub. The slight rustle of leaves to her right caught her attention and she turned her attention to the sound, a knife in her hand. About ten seconds later Hawkeye poked his head out of the foliage and gave her a cocky smile which drove a sigh of exasperation out of her.

 

"Do you have any idea what they are loading," Natasha asked indicating the Hydra agents.

 

"I didn't get everything but they were saying something about loading some sort of weapons onto the sub. Something to do with a te-aract or something similar," Hawkeye told her and she cocked an eyebrow at him questioningly, wondering how he could have possibly heard them from as far away as the lifeguard tower.

 

A cocky grin spread across his face before he told her in a teasing voice "I lip read. Want to help me practice?"

 

Usually Natasha would have cold cocked any guy who made such a lewd suggestion but the teasing tone of Hawkeye's voice combined with the fact that she could tell that he wasn't in any way attracted to her just left her rolling her eyes and asking "Do you really use pick-up lines that bad?"

 

"Hey, what was wrong with it," Hawkeye asked back an exagerrated pout on his face while his sharp eyes were scanning the Hydra agents.

 

"Better to ask what wasn't," Natasha joked back before she thought about it then blinked as she realized what she had just done. She rarely allowed herself to just react without thinking through the consequences of her actions and the fact that she had threw her. Trying to regain her mental equilibrium she asked brusquely "Are you getting anything else?"

 

Hawkeye seemed unfazed by her change in tone and merely squinted his eyes as he stared at one Hydra agent who seemed to be directing the proceedings.

 

"Can't get much else. The guy has a mustache and that makes it harder to read his lips but I think they are about to launch. They are getting nervous and are thinking about leaving without the rest of the stuff," Hawkeye paused as the man he was watching stopped and listened to his comms before he was talking again to the people loading the sub. The loaders immediately dropped the crates they were carrying and started to scramble to get the sub ready for departure.

 

"Change of plans, Widow. They are heading out now. Apparently Steve and the rest of the Avengers just defeated the main force and that has spurred them into action. We have to stop them," Hawkeye told her firmly as he gripped his bow and in one smooth motion stood up, stepped out of cover, and strung his bow. Natasha cursed mentally as she moved to follow the idiot just as he released his first arrow striking the leader in the center of his chest.

 

Before the body had even had a chance to begin falling they were running toward the dock, Hawkeye firing a few shots as they ran and downing three more Hydra agents before they were amoung the enemy and it came down to hand-to-hand combat.

 

Immediately, Natasha sprang up into a handstand and used her legs to snap the neck of the first Hydra agent she encountered and as she flipped into the next Hydra goon coming at her she noted the way that Hawkeye used his bow to trip one woman and had already strung and fired an arrow into another man before he stabbed the woman through the eye.

 

Natasha kicked a man hard in the chest before using him as a spring board to attack a man trying to sneak up on her from behind and as she rode the man to the ground she clicked her comm.

 

"Steve, Hawkeye and I have engaged the Hydra agents at the docks. They are trying to sneak away with stolen weapons made from the tesseract," Natasha reported. As she was using her widow bites on the man under her she heard her comm crackle to life.

 

"Ironman is in route to your position. ETA two minutes. Can you hold them until then," Steve asked and Natasha quickly glanced around assessing the situation. As she watched several of the Hydra agents were boarding the sub, moving to go down the hatch, and she knew if they made it down that hatch their chances of keeping the sub from launching would be almost nill.

 

"We will try," she told Steve shortly as she searched for Hawkeye, catching his eye she gestured to the sub and saw the light of understanding in his eyes.

 

"Cover me," Hawkeye shouted before stringing his bow. The person closet to the sub's hatch went down with an arrow shaft sticking out of his throat and the next person was down a moment later with an arrow through the eye. A man was rushing at Hawkeye and Natasha immediately moved to intercept the man. The man was surprisingly well trained and it took her a full minute to subdue him, a minute that she cursed as she watched as Hawkeye was forced to retreat up onto the roof of the boat dock in order to keep the Hydra agents on the sub under fire without being overwhelmed by the agents still on the dock. Finally with a last blow she was able to lay the man out and was moving to help defend Clint but he caught her eye and gestured her on to the sub.

 

"I've got this. One of them managed to get down the hatch but is injured. Need you to go after him," Clint shouted to her as he loosed several more arrows at the few people still on the sub's roof without even looking to make sure his shots had connected. Natasha noted that every shot hit its mark as she slipped through the Hydra ranks while arrows flew around her picking off any people who got too close or who seemed like they might be about to get in her way.

 

With a final push she threw herself into the hatch of the sub and sped down the cramped corridor to the control room knowing that she might be followed at any moment and that the cramped quarters would severely limit her fighting ability. Spotting the man at the controls she noted that he still had an arrow sticking out of his shoulder, an arrow that was only a inch from having hit the vein pulsing in his neck.

 

The man spun, hearing her approach, and fired off several shots which she barely managed to dodge before she was twisting the gun out of the man's hand and snapping his neck moments later. Her breathes came hard as her body fought to get enough oxygen after her mad dash but she only gave herself a few moments to catch her breath before she was moving back down the corridor to the hatch, surprised not to encouter any Hydra that had followed her.

 

A body was laying over the hatch and with a practical air she dragged it down the hatch before allowing it to drop at her feet. Catiously she poked her head out of the hatch and surveyed the area before spotting Hawkeye still on the roof of the boat house, keeping lookout. He almost immediately spotted her and nodded at her with a smirk on his face which faded into a look of surprise as he was thrown backward, blood blooming on his upper chest as a high calibre bullet struck him in the lower shoulder.

 

Natasha started toward him without thought before forcing herself to take cover and scan the area as a hail of bullets continued to rain around the dock area. She gritted her teeth as she heard the distinctive sound of a large object hitting the water and knew that she had to take out the sniper quickly before Clint managed to drown in the murky river.

 

She located the sniper fairly quickly but while the man was not very skilled he did have a seemingly endless supply of semi-automatic weapons which he kept targeted on her position. As each second ticked by all she could think of was Hawkeye sinking to the bottom of the river, unconsious from the shock of the bullet wound, and she was just about to fling herself from cover and try her luck with getting off a head shot when she heard the sound of repulsors. Relief flooded her as Tony quickly took out the crazed man but she didn't give herself time to relax as she was already sprinting to where she estimated Hawkeye would have hit the water.

 

"Hey, what is up. Are you ok," Tony asked his voice made mechanical by the suit but still conveying his worry.

 

"Hawkeye was hit. He should have gone into the water somewhere around here. You do airily surveillance. I am going in to look for him," Natasha told him shortly as she stripped off her widow bites. The last thing she needed was them going off in the water and electricuting both of them.

 

"Shit," Tony said from behind her but didn't saw anything else as he took to the air. Cold water closed around Natasha's head as she took a shallow dive into the river and began searching the river bottom for the man who had become something almost like a friend in the short time she had known him.

 

'Don't you dare die you idiot. Matt needs you,' Natasha thought fiercely as she felt around the river almost blindly.

 

 

 

 

"JARVIS, start a heat signature scan of the river area and get me a current chart for the river," Tony ordered as he flew up scanning the river and hoping desperately that he would spot a head of gold hair floating in the waters.

 

"Already started, sir. Charts of currents in the area indicate that the currents around the boat dock during this part of the tide cycle are particularly strong and as Agent Romanov is already being swept down river despite her best efforts I believe it might be best to start searching further down river," JARVIS told him and immediately Tony started moving slowly along the river scanning the shore for any signs of movement or unusual heat signature.

 

His heart was racing as he considered having to tell that little boy lying in his infirmy that he had lost his father but with an effort he wrenched his mind away from that train of thought.

 

"Sir, I am picking up a human heat signature approximately seven hundred feet to your left, on the shore. The person appears to be kneeling within some bushes," JARVIS informed him and Tony moved that way. He breathed a sigh of relief as he noted the blond hair of the man kneeling in the bushes and the recurve bow slung across his back.

 

"Widow, I have found him. Going in to see how bad he is hurt," Tony called over the comms then winced as a cacophony of voices came back to him asking who had been hurt and he realized that both Natasha and he had forgotten to inform the team what had happened.

 

"Sorry, sorry," he quickly said hoping to stave off Steve's voice of disappointment or Coulson's bland rebuke "Forgot to call it over the comms but Hawkeye was injured and fell in the river. Widow went in after him while I took aerial search. I found him downriver and he appears to be alright except for the hole in his shoulder. I am going into retrieve him now and will meet you back at where ever triage has been set up."

 

He finished as he came down behind Hawkeye and walked up to lay a hand on the shoulder that had not been shot. A blur of movement later he watched in surprise as sparks flew literally as Hawkeye spun around a knife in his hand which he dragged across the belly of the suit in a way that would have disembowled Tony if he had not been in the suit.

 

Surprised by the violent response Tony immediately backed up, hands in the air, saying "Wow, calm down. Its just me."

 

"Stark," Barton said panting and Tony frowned briefly at the slur to his words.

 

"Tony, report," Steve said firmly and it was only then that Tony realized that he had left comms open.

 

"It is ok. Just surprised Hawkeye and he tried to disembowel me. I am fine. The suit absorbed the damage easily but I think he might have a head injury. He is slurring his words," Tony reported.

 

"You ok," he directed toward Clint but the archer simply starred at him a frown of confusion on his face.

 

"Ironman, don't try to fly him out if he has a head injury. Coulson is going to come with a car to pick you up," Steve told him after a brief moment.

 

"Stark," Clint said thickly "take off the face plate I can't hear you at the moment. My aids got shorted by the water."

 

Tony blinked at the words not understanding and blurted out "What?"

 

Steve started to repeat his order but Tony stopped him.

 

"Sorry, Cap, wasn't talking to you. Hawkeye just said.....," Tony trailed off as realization of what the archer had meant penetrated and he cursed as he brought up the faceplate.

 

"You're deaf," Tony blurted then actually flushed at the dry look Clint shot him.

 

"Yeah, what of it," he growled and Tony quickly said gesturing wildly "Nothing, nothing. Just ignore me. I am an idiot. I...."

 

"Stark, calm down. It is fine but could you look at me while you talk. Lip reading is hard enough when the person isn't moving around like a hyper kid and doubly hard when said person has facial hair," Clint told him tiredly as he sat back down on the ground, applying pressure to his wound.

 

"Sorry,...umm....what would help....with the lip reading," Tony asked awkwardly gesturing to his face as he spoke.

 

"Just speak slowly and make sure to get my attention before speaking," Clint told him with a smile obviously amused at his discomfort and the fact that he wasn't angry put Tony at ease.

 

"Asshole," Tony pronounced with exaggerated care and grinned as Clint laughed.

 

"Don't worry Stark everyone knows you are," Clint shot back and Tony stuck out his tongue at the other man.

 

"Real mature," Clint snarked.

 

"Ironman, Coulson is heading your way. Can you give us your exact position," Steve called over the comms and Tony grimaced again as he realized that he had forgotten again to relay information to his team. Steve was so going to give him the 'Captain America is disappointed in you' face later.

 

"Tell him to stay put. Hawkeye doesn't have a head injury so I am flying him out and picking up Natasha on the way. Will update you on the details when we get there," Tony added as he could feel Steve about to start firing off questions over the comms, he didn't think that Clint would appreciate him telling all of SHIELD about his deafness. He didn't think Clint viewed his deafness negatively but the fact remained that if people learned about it then it could present a point of weakness for Clint.

 

"Ironman, I have already obtained transport and will meet you back at base," Natasha called over comms and Tony smiled.

 

"Guess it is just you and me then Legolas," he joked then felt like an ass again as Clint frowned at him and Tony realized that the archer would not have been able to hear Natasha.

 

"Natasha found a ride so it will just be me and you on the ride back," Tony explained. Clint nodded his understanding then asked gesturing at Tony "So how do we do this?"

 

Tony grinned mischeviously then said teasingly "Bridal style."

 

He laughed in amusement as Clint shot him the bird and told him exactly where he could shove it.

 

 

 


End file.
